Of love and felicity
by Indian Black Star
Summary: This is a story in which Kakashi learned to become a better person, in which Tsunade and the rest of Konoha learned to look beneath the underneath, in which Ibiki learned to open his heart for a girl. This is a story of love, and of felicity.
1. The mysterious visitors of Konoha

A/N: Hi everyone! This is sort of a sequel to my previous story "The Sound of Silence." The two stories are mostly independent of each other, but I let my OC "Haruka" from the previous story reappear in this one. I hope you like it. Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 1: The mysterious visitors of Konoha

Contrary to what most people believed, Kotetsu and Izumo actually liked their jobs as gatekeepers of the Hidden Village of Konoha. Despite being skillful shinobi, both chuunin had a calm disposition, and would rather protect their beloved village by guarding the gate than going out and killing enemy ninja.

Today was a typical, quiet day at the gate. Throughout the entire morning, only Gai's team had made an appearance as they returned from a successful mission. The tortoise green sensei and student pair offered Kotetsu and Izumo a shiny bright smile and a good guy's pose as usual, and the two gatekeepers waved back good naturedly.

After watching Team Gai disappearing into the village, Kotetsu stretched and let out a loud yawn. "Is it time for lunch yet?" He asked his best buddy.

"Sure, why not." Izumo shrugged lazily. He bent down to fish out his bento box from under the table, but Kotetsu nudged him slightly and said, "Someone's coming."

Izumo immediately stood back up and looked at where Kotetsu was pointing. Even with his eyes squinting, Izumo could barely make out the dark silhouette of the approaching figure against the shadows of the forest.

"He sure seems like a big fella. I think he may be even bigger than Ibiki-san." Izumo commented as he grabbed a kunai into his hand. "Better not be an enemy nin."

Kotetsu had prepared himself for a potential confrontation as well. However, as the shadow came closer, the two chuunin realized that the "big fella" was but the overlapping silhouette of a slender woman and the person she carried on her back.

The woman was clearly a ninja. Even though she wasn't wearing a forehead protector, the gatekeepers could tell from the way she walked, as well as the two swords that hung loosely from her waist. She was young, probably in her late teens or early twenties, and she had a pretty, pleasant face. The person on her back was also a young woman, and the two shared strikingly similar facial features, despite the fact that the woman being carried appeared to be ghostly thin and pale.

The duo slowly walked towards Kotetsu and Izumo's station. "How may I help you, ladies?" Izumo asked.

"Ano… we are here to visit our cousin. He lives in Konoha." The slender woman courteously replied.

"Sure." Kotetsu extended his arm out. "May I see your passes please?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but we don't have a pass." The woman said humbly and carefully.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, the rule says no pass, no entry." Izumo said. However, perhaps because of the woman's pretty face and gentle manner, he added, "Who is your cousin anyway?"

"His name is Hatake Kakashi. He is the son of Hatake Sakumo, who is also known as the White Fang of Konoha."

Kotetsu and Izumo exchanged a surprised glance with each other. Everybody in Konoha knew that Kakashi did not have any living relative remain. Was this woman an enemy nin who was trying to trick them?

As if reading their minds, the woman pleaded urgently, "Please believe me. My sister is very sick." She glanced at the woman on her back, "She just wishes to see Kakashi nii-san one last time to... to say goodbye…" her voice trailed off and her eyes began to well up with tears.

Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other uncomfortably. They would rather fight ten enemy ninja than deal with a woman who looked like she was about to cry. "Um…" Kotetsu said gingerly. "Didn't Kakashi-san just come back from a solo mission yesterday? Why don't I go find him and bring him here, and then he can decide what to do." He disappeared with a puff of smoke before Izumo could say anything.

_Traitor! _ Izumo mentally gave his best friend a kick. He turned around and looked at the two young women in front of him helplessly.

"Um… it might take us a while to find Kakashi-san." He pointed at a nearby tree. "Why don't you go sit down over there with your sister and rest for a while?"

The woman nodded gratefully at him. She walked towards the tree that Izumo specified and gently put her sister down. She fished out a water bottle from her luggage, opened the cap and handed it to her sister.

"Here, Sachi-chan, drink some water."

The tree was close enough to Izumo that he could spy on the sisters easily. He saw Sachi take a few sips of water and handed the bottle back to her sister, but her sister refused to take it.

"That wasn't enough, the last medic said you need to drink a lot of water, just go ahead and finish the bottle." She insisted.

"Ai-chan, you need to drink water too, you have been walking since the morning." Sachi softly complained, but Ai simply shook her head stubbornly.

Sachi made a pouty face and finished the water obediently. Ai gave her an encouraging smile. She took out a small towel from her pocket and began to gently wipe her sister's face.

Izumo then did something that surprised himself. Despite the fact that these girls could be enemy nin in disguise, he grabbed his own water bottle from under the table, walked over to the tree and offered it to Ai.

"Here, you can have some of my water." He said in a friendly voice.

Ai was startled by his unexpected friendliness. She looked down timidly and said, "It's OK, I'm not really thirsty…"

Izumo placed his water bottle in her hands. "Don't be silly, you must be thirsty after all these traveling. I still have more water at the station, so don't you worry about that." He walked back to his station before Ai could say anything else. He sat down on his chair and made a point to not look at the sisters, though he glanced at them from the corner of his eyes from time to time, and he was very glad to see that Ai finally decided to drink his water.

_They sure don't look like enemies_… Izumo muttered to himself. Out of boredom and curiosity, he continued to survey the sisters out of the corner of his eyes and compared them with the other girls he knew, the way a young man often would. After much consideration, he decided that Ai was a very pretty girl – no, not quite beautiful, but definitely pretty, with her delicate, heart-shaped face, almond-shaped eyes, and long, wavy hair collected in a neat side-ponytail, with a shorter, wispy layer that floated freely next to her right cheek. She actually reminded him of a girl that he used to have a crush on in the ninja academy.

Sachi would have been pretty too if she weren't unhealthily thin and pale, given the fact that she practically had the same face as her sister. Izumo wondered what had happened to her. Was she suffering from some sort of illness?

After spending what seemed like forever thinking random, idle thoughts, finally, much to Izumo's relief, Kotetsu was back, together with the famous Copy Nin.

"Good afternoon, Kakashi-san." Izumo stood up and addressed his senior politely.

However, the usually friendly and laid back jounin only nodded briefly at Izumo. He hurriedly marched towards the two sisters, pushing up his forehead protector to reveal his sharingan along the way, and then he did something very strange. Izumo didn't quite see how it happened, but by the time he realized what was going on, two kunai had already been shot out from the Copy Nin's hand towards the sick girl seated helplessly on the ground next to the tree. The pointy ends of the kunai were only inches away from puncturing Sachi's skin…

Izumo opened his mouth in surprise, but before he could let out a yell, Ai had situated herself between Sachi and the assaulting weapons, and the flying kunai collided with the blades of her two drawn swords with a loud clank and fell onto the ground.

All four pairs of eyes stared at Kakashi with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and perhaps a hint of anger, but the jounin simply pushed his forehead protector back down and let out a hearty laugh.

"Ai-chan! Sachi-chan! Long time no see." Kakashi squatted down in front of the girls and gently removed the swords from Ai's hands. "I'm sorry, girls, I must have scared you, but right now Konoha is being targeted by many bad people, so I need to make sure that you are not someone from, say, Akatsuki in disguise. After all, it has been eleven years since I last saw you." Seeing that everyone still seemed to be a little skeptical, Kakashi continued to explain. "You see, henge and make-up can change a person's face into another's, but it's impossible to completely imitate another person's movements, especially during a life and death situation." He turned and smiled at Ai, his sole exposed eye curved into a thin line. "I knew it was you the moment you moved. After all, I was the one who trained you when you two spent the summer with me eleven years ago." Then he added, "And you are as protective of your sister as ever."

However, despite all his explanation, Ai still looked at him accusingly and said, "But… Kakashi nii-san, what if you actually hurt Sachi-chan?"

Kakashi shook his head and sighed, "Don't you have any faith in your nii-san's ability?" He turned around again and threw a couple kunai at the tree. Amazingly, the kunai made a slight turn right before they hit the tree and flew off into a nearby shrub instead. "Those kunai weren't meant to actually hit Sachi-chan to begin with."

Ai seemingly relaxed after hearing her cousin's explanation. Kakashi smiled and patted her on the head endearingly, as if she were still the little girl that he remembered. "How are you girls doing?" He looked back and forth between Ai and Sachi, finally fixating his eyes on Sachi's pale face. "Sachi-chan…" Kakashi wasn't quite sure how to continue.

"Sachi-chan is sick, nii-san." Ai finished the sentence for him gloomily. She lowered her head, tears began to fall drop after drop onto her lap.

Kakashi didn't need Ai to point that out for him. Sachi was obviously thin and frail, her skin the color of someone who was at their life's end. After a thoughtful pause, Kakashi suddenly said in an unexpectedly cheerful tone, "You know what, Ai-chan, my fiancée is one of the best medic in Konoha. She must have a way to cure Sachi-chan of whatever sickness it is. Let's go and see her now."

"It's no use, Kakashi nii-san." It was Sachi who replied calmly to him. "Ever since I came down with this sickness two years ago, Ai-chan has been traveling with me to different countries to see different medics, but none of them could cure me." She lowered her head as well. "I don't have much time left. Nii-san, you are the only relative we have left, and you were very kind to us when we stayed with you before, I just want to see you again before I die."

Suddenly, Kakashi scooped up Sachi into his arms and began to walk towards the village. "Ai-chan, collect your stuff and come with me. Kotetsu, Izumo, I'm taking them to the Konoha hospital, I will clear their paperwork with Tsunade-sama myself later. Thank you for your help today."

Kotetsu and Izumo greeted their senpai goodbye, both genuinely hoping that the legendary medic they were about to see could cure the girl's illness.


	2. Emptiness

Chapter 2: Emptiness

Kakashi ran into his fiancée in the hallway of Konoha hospital. He had dropped off Ai and Sachi at the hospital earlier and went straight to the Hokage's office to sort out the girls' entry passes. Fortunately, the Hokage was extremely understanding about the situation, and Kakashi quickly got what he wanted.

Kakashi put his arms around his lover's waist and planted a quick peck on her forehead through his mask as his greeting.

"Where are the girls?" He asked.

"They are both resting in the hospital room next to my office." Haruka showed him the assortment of herbs in her hands. "I had to go to the pharmacy to pick these up for Sachi-chan."

Kakashi kept one of his arms on Haruka's waist, and the two of them walked towards her office slowly.

"Have you had a chance to look at Sachi-chan yet?" Kakashi asked nervously.

Haruka nodded.

Kakashi was expecting her to say that Sachi's disease was no big deal, that she can be cured in a day, but instead Haruka said, with difficulty, "I'm sorry, Kakashi."

Kakashi stopped in the middle of the hallway. Haruka watched the glint of hope faded from Kakashi's sole exposed eye. She said apologetically, "It's already too late. There's not much I can do for her anymore."

"That's ok." Kakashi said sullenly. "I didn't really expect much anyway. Even I can tell that she's very sick."

"I'm sorry." Haruka apologized again.

Kakashi shook his head and held her closer. Somehow he felt the need to explain. "The girls' mother was my father's little sister, and I've always seen the girls as my own little sisters as well. It's been eleven years since I last saw them, I really didn't expect the time I see them again will be the time for me to say goodbye to one of them permanently."

Haruka patted Kakashi's back understandingly.

"What kind of illness does Sachi-chan have exactly?" The melancholy Copy Nin asked.

"It's a rare kind of disease that disrupts the patient's ability to produce the right mixture of blood cells. Early symptoms include general fatigue and weakness, excessive bleeding from minor cuts, frequent infection and enlarged liver and spleen, but the patient will eventually develop anemia and die." Haruka explained. "If she were still at the early stage of the disease, I might be able to cure her by sending healing chakra into her bone marrow to help restore the production of blood cells. But now… it's too late, her disease has already spread to other parts of her body."

"I see." Kakashi said unhappily.

The two of them resumed walking.

"Ano…" Haruka attempted to change the subject, "Sachi-chan and Ai-chan, they are identical twins, aren't they?"

Kakashi nodded and smiled. "They certainly look a lot alike, especially when they were younger. Sometimes even their mother had trouble telling them apart."

"How did your aunt's family end up in a different country?" Haruka asked curiously. All shinobi had to swear allegiance to their hidden village and country. Moving to a different country would often be considered as an act of betrayal and would result in death penalties.

"I think my aunt married someone from the Land of Lightning during the early years of the Great Ninja War, and somehow she got permission to move there, most likely because her husband was a civilian. I don't know the history too well, I was just a child myself when that happened. However…" Kakashi tilted his head thoughtfully, "I think the girls' father passed away when they were very young. Both Ai and Sachi used Hatake as their family name." Kakashi recalling the information on his cousins' travel documents.

"Ai and Sachi…" Haruka recited softly after Kakashi, "love and felicity, what beautiful names, they must have been well loved."

"My aunt sure did take good care of her little girls." Kakashi agreed. "I guess, in a way it's blessing that she passed away just before Sachi-chan came down with her illness, she would have been very sad to see her daughter suffer like this."

Haruka nodded. The two of them continued to walk in silence until they reached the hospital room. Kakashi knocked on the door and walked in.

"Kakashi nii-san." Ai came up and greeted him.

"How is Sachi-chan doing?" Kakashi put on a cheerful tone and asked.

"Good. She's feeling a lot more comfortable after Haruka nee-san massaged her bone marrow with healing chakra. She's asleep now, which is really good since she hasn't been able to sleep much lately because of the pain." Ai looked at Haruka gratefully.

"That's good to hear." Haruka smiled. "I'm going to make some herbal tea for her to drink after she wakes up. I'll be in my office next door if you need me." Haruka excused herself and disappeared behind the door to her office.

"Ai-chan, want to come take a walk with me in the garden downstairs?" Kakashi offered her a warm smile.

"Oh..." Ai turned and looked at her sister, who was fast asleep on the hospital bed, "sure, just for a little while. Sachi will panic if she wakes up and I'm not here."

The two cousins slowly walked out of the hospital entrance and into the finely groomed garden. The warm afternoon sun greeted them gently and welcomingly.

They walked quietly for a while, until Ai broke the silence and said, "Nii-san, thank you for taking us to Haruka nee-san. I know she will take good care of Sachi-chan during her last days."

Kakashi felt overcome with a wave of sadness. "I'm really sorry, Ai-chan." He apologized for his own helplessness.

"It's ok, Kakashi nii-san." Ai forced a smile onto her face and said bravely. "Sachi-chan has been sick for a long time, I think it will be a relief for her to finally stop suffering, and I have prepared myself for the inevitable as well."

Ai's brave words almost broke Kakashi's heart. He said, partly to console himself, "I think Sachi-chan has had a good life, and she must feel very lucky to have you as her twin sister, because you're simply the coolest girl in the entire world."

"Eh?" Ai was surprised by Kakashi's kind comments. She smiled timidly and said, "No one ever said that to me. Sachi-chan has always been the popular one. "

Kakashi gave her a tender smile. "Remember how I coached your sword practice that summer when you came and visited with your mom?"

Ai nodded.

"I was impressed with you from the beginning. You were an extremely diligent student. You trained day and night, rain and shine, and you didn't even belong to any hidden village because you mother had married a civilian." Kakashi said. "Finally I had to ask you why you even bothered to train so hard. Do you remember what you said?"

Ai shook her head.

"You said, 'Kakashi nii-san, Sachi-chan doesn't even know how to throw a kunai, I have to become really strong in order to protect her, because she's a very precious person to me.'" Kakashi said admiringly. "Ai-chan, you were only eight year old at that time, yet you have already mastered a concept that had cost my best friend his life to teach me." Kakashi smiled bitterly at the memory of Obito. "That was when I decided that you're the coolest girl in the world."

Ai smiled gratefully at Kakashi and said, "Thank you, Kakashi nii-san."

Kakashi was happy to finally see a genuine smile on Ai's face. He gave her a pat on the back and said, "Shall we go back and see if Sachi-chan is up?"

Ai nodded, and the two of them slowly walked back into the hospital.

Exactly one month later, Sachi passed away peacefully in her sleep. Ai decided to cremate her body and scatter her ashes over the waterfalls. The ash scattering ceremony was small but quaint, attended only by Kakashi, Haruka, Kotetsu and Izumo. However, to everyone's surprise, the Hokage herself, accompanied by her loyal assistant Shizune, appeared at the waterfalls right before Ai was about to disperse the ashes.

"I used to know your mother," The legendary ninja explained, "so I thought I'd come and offer my condolence."

Ai nodded appreciatively at the leader of Konoha and began to distribute the gray-white powder over the water. Tears trickled down from her already red and swollen eyes as Sachi's ashes slowly disappeared with the gentle wind. The sky was cloudy. Clusters of gray clouds pressed down heavily onto the atmosphere, making it almost difficult to breath.

The small urn in Ai's hand slowly became empty. Ai stood and stared absently at the waterfall for a moment before she turned around and bowed to everyone. "I want to thank all of you for coming." She walked up to Tsunade and said, "Hokage-sama, thank you for letting us stay in Konoha." Then she turned to Kotetsu and Izumo and said, "Thank you for being nice to us and helping us find Kakashi nii-san." Finally she came to Kakashi and Haruka and gave them each a long, tight hug. "Nii-san, nee-san, thank you for everything during the past month. There simply wasn't a better way… a better way for Sachi-chan to go. It was almost like we had a family again."

"You silly girl," Kakashi hugged her back warmly and said, "of course we are family." He pointed at her and then his own eyebrows. "See? We have the same eyebrows."

Ai managed to squeeze out a faint smile at his comment.

"Sorry to interrupt." Every head turned and looked at the Hokage. "I have some business to attend to and I must leave soon, but before I go, Ai, I just want to let you know that you are welcome to stay in Konoha for as long as you wish. After all, your mother was a rightful citizen of Konoha, even though she had experienced that unfortu…" Tsunade suddenly caught herself and stopped in mid sentence, drawing suspicious glances from Kakashi, but she quickly changed the subject, "Anyway, in the case that you decide to stay permanently at Konoha, please do let me know as soon as possible so that Kakashi and I can work out a reasonable arrangement for you."

"Thank you for the offer, Hokage-sama." Ai thought for a moment. "Yes, I'd like to stay in Konoha if you don't mind having me. I… I don't really have anywhere else to go."

Haruka immediately gave her a hug. "That's great, Ai-chan, we'd love to have you here with us. You can even come and live with me if you like, I have an extra room in my house."

Ai squeezed Haruka's hand gratefully. Kotetsu and Izumo came up to her and said something consoling as well, but Ai could no longer hear them. Her mind had drifted off to where her twin sister was. She and her sister had been together since before they were born. Losing Sachi was practically like losing a part of herself. After all, they had once shared the same flesh and blood before they split off in their mother's womb into two separate beings. Ai wondered whether she would ever feel complete again without her sister around.

She simply did not know.


	3. The bell test

A/N: Thank you for reading this story. It really means a lot to know that people are reading your work. I hope you like it so far. Please don't be shy to leave a review either, I always enjoy constructive comments, whether they are positive or not. For those of you who are Ibiki fans, sorry, he still won't be appearing yet, but he will be debuting in the next chapter so please be patient!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 3: The bell test

"I'm really excited about this!" Exclaimed Shizune, the loyal assistant of the fifth Hokage.

"This will definitely be a good fight. I can't wait to see Ai-chan's double sword technique." Haruka agreed with her.

Both kunoichi were leaning against a tree at the edge of the third training ground, a little distance away from Tsunade. In the middle of the training ground stood Kakashi and Ai, face to face with each other. Kakashi seemed casual and relaxed as always, and Ai looked alert and serious.

"Ai, your goal is to take the two bells hanging on Kakashi's waist. We will assign you a job based on your performance today. Understand?" Tsunade said in her usual authoritative manner.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Ai calmly replied.

"Alright then." Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector to reveal the red sharingan. "Remember, I won't go easy on you just because you're my little sister."

"That's fine with me, nii-san." Ai smiled confidently.

"That's my girl." Kakashi nodded his approval with a smile. "Let's get started then, shall we? Ready, one, two, three, go!" Kakashi exclaimed, his last word trailed off as his body disappeared from everyone's sight with a puff of smoke.

"That old dog has no new trick." Tsunade muttered under her breath and chuckled at her own pun.

Ai immediately hopped onto a nearby tree to hide herself as soon as Kakashi disappeared. _A game of hide and seek huh? Nii-san._ She carefully assessed her surrounding, her shrewd eyes searching everywhere for Kakashi's hiding place, but the Copy Nin was nowhere to be found.

Ai herself had picked an excellent location for hiding. She was high up on a tall tree, well hidden among the dense foliage, but the vegetation thinned out right underneath her, leaving her a convenient opening to observe her surrounding. A normal opponent would not be able to find her, but Kakashi was no average ninja. He was smart, careful and conscientious. "Always look beneath the underneath," he used to tell Ai when he was training her eleven years ago.

_Always look beneath the underneath._ Ai recited the phrase several times in her mind, and suddenly she smiled. To look beneath the underneath was to see things that other people didn't see. In other words, Kakashi liked to surprise people. Ai looked around again. Assuming that Kakashi was smart enough to figure out where she was, the most unlikely way for him to attack would be…

Ai looked up, drew out her swords and accurately blocked the two kunai aimed directly at her from above. "Ne, nii-san, when you always try to do things differently, it'll become a predictable pattern in and of itself." She teased him as she charged at him full speed with the two swords in her hands.

Kakashi couldn't help but give the young woman a full round of mental applause. Not only was she able to predict and block his sneak attack, she also executed an immediate counter attack that exploited his temporary lack of defense right after he threw the kunai. In addition, she tried to distract and anger him with her words, adding another level of complexity to her attack. There was no question that this young woman was a highly skilled and experienced fighter.

However, Kakashi himself was a seasoned veteran and an expert in all ninja arts. He swiftly dodged Ai's first few attacks, then he calmly fished out another kunai from his weapon pouch to block her swords. Metal blades clinked and clanked with each other, occasionally sending sparks off into the air. Both fighters were moving so fast that the audience could barely catch their movements.

"Amazing…" Shizune was trying very hard not to blink so that she wouldn't miss any of the fight. "I heard that Ai-chan grew up in a civilian village. Who taught her all these combat skills?"

"Kakashi said she learned it from her mother." Haruka said.

"That is correct." Tsunade said. "Her mother, the younger sister of White Fang, was one of the finest sword users in the Land of Fire, as well as an expert in the double sword technique. A double sword user typically uses two swords of different lengths, the longer one is a katana, and the shorter one is a shoto."

Tsunade pointed at the slender figure of Ai, who just blocked one of Kakashi's attacks with the shoto in her left hand. "The katana is used mainly for offense because of its long reach, and the shoto is used for defense and the occasional close range offense. If I remember correctly, Ai's mother had trained herself to become ambidextrous so that she can use both swords with either hand during a fight."

"Oh, case and point." Haruka noticed. "Ai just switched her swords. Now the katana is in her left hand… I see, she's trying to attack the Kakashi on her left because the one on the right is a kage bunshin."

Ai got rid of Kakashi's bunshin easily while dodging another shuriken that the real Kakashi threw at her. However, even though she seemed perfectly at ease and capable, she had begun to panic in her mind. They had been fighting for a while now, but even though she was not losing, she was nowhere near actually getting the bells. She needed to change her strategy in order to win. Did Kakashi have any weakness that she could use against him? What could it possibly be?

The two combatants were getting closer and closer to their audience. Ai could hear the two kunoichi cheering for her, and to her amusement, Kakashi flirtatiously talked back to Haruka and told her that she should cheer for him instead.

The conversion between Kakashi and Haruka brought a smile to Ai's face, amidst the middle of a vicious fight. Ai absolutely adored her nii-san and his fiancée. They were such a lovely couple, and they cared about each other so deeply that Ai had no doubt they would sacrifice themselves to save each other in a dangerous situation without second thoughts.

And this gave Ai a very interesting idea…

Kakashi had been waiting for Ai to get tired and slow down. She was an excellent fighter, no question about that, and under the current circumstances, without a true intention to kill, Kakashi could not beat her easily. However, Kakashi was confident that his endurance would outlast hers. All he needed to do was wait. Time alone would tire her out. She would slow down and expose her weakness very soon.

Kakashi didn't have to wait long before he started to notice Ai's movements slowing down. Perhaps because she knew that she wouldn't last much longer, she had become more reckless in her fight. The sword user returned her shoto into its sheath and began to attack Kakashi with just the katana and a large number of explosive tags. However, the continuous explosions failed to accomplish anything other than creating a massive amount of smoke in the surrounding area. Kakashi frowned as his vision became blurred by the presence of thick, choking smoke.

Bang! Another tag exploded, followed by a small, surprised scream. The sound seemed to have come from where Shizune and Haruka were standing, and the voice sounded suspiciously like Haruka's. Was she injured by the explosion? Kakashi waved his arm in front of him impatiently, trying to clear as much smoke away from his face as possible, and headed towards the tree where Haruka was leaning against.

He found Haruka standing in the middle of the smoke, examining what appeared to be a cut on her upper arm.

"Haruka, are you ok?" He asked concernedly.

Haruka smiled at him. "I'm fine, just got scratched by a fallen branch, it's no big deal at all."

"That reckless brat." Kakashi said half jokingly. "She could be more careful with her explosive tags."

"Nah, it's not a problem at all." Haruka walked up to him and gently picked out the small bits of leaves and twigs that had gotten caught in his unkempt silver hair. "Ai-chan was heading that way." She indicated with a tilt of her delicate chin. "You'd better go and catch up with her."

"Ok, will do." Kakashi smiled at Haruka. However, just when he was about to turn and continue his chase, Haruka reached out her hand, snatched the bells from his waist, and immediately retreated backward.

Kakashi looked at Haruka incredulously, his mouth open under his mask in surprise. As if it were magic, Haruka's face slowly dissolved into Ai's features, who was smiling triumphantly at him with the bells dangling off her fingers.

The smoke created by the explosive tags had slowly cleared. Kakashi could see the real Haruka standing next to Shizune and Tsunade only a few trees away.

"Henge no jutsu!" Kakashi exclaimed in realization. He could not believe that he had fallen for such a simple jutsu, one that all shinobi learned during their early years at the ninja academy.

A few trees over, Shizune and Haruka were trying very hard to not laugh out loud at the Copy Nin's failure, but the fifth Hokage was blunt at usual. She gave Kakashi a sympathetic pad on his shoulder and said, "That was some good henge, wasn't it?" Tsunade did not make the slightest effort to hide the big, wide grin from her face. "Not only was the henge itself perfect, Ai-chan also did a good job impersonating Haruka's voice and mannerism. Even I was fooled for a moment."

"To give Kakashi some credits, he tends to panic whenever he thinks Haruka is in danger." Shizune chuckled. "Ai-chan has definitely found Kakashi's weakness."

Everyone laughed, including Kakashi himself. He walked up to Ai and ruffled her hair endearingly. "Good job, Ai-chan, you got me tricked. How could I have forgotten that you have always been a henge expert?" Ai crinkled her nose and smiled timidly at everyone's compliments.

"Alright then." Tsunade announced. "The bell test today was a success. Congratulations to you, Ai. Kakashi, come to my office first thing tomorrow morning and we'll arrange something for her. Shizune, come with me to the hospital now. We have some business there to take care of. Everyone else, dismiss." The Hokage smiled approvingly at Ai before leaving the training ground, Shizune following behind her faithfully.

"Congratulations Ai-chan, I'm so proud of you." Haruka gave Ai a hug and said. "You must be tired now, shall we go home and rest?"

Ai looked up and checked the position of the sun. "Nee-san," she told Haruka, "I have an errand to run this afternoon."

"Ok then," Haruka said, "Kakashi and I will be waiting for you at my place. We'll all go out for a nice dinner tonight and celebrate, alright?"

Ai smiled and nodded. "I will definitely be home in two hours."

Her smile faded as soon as she left the training ground, and the happiness of passing the bell test was quickly replaced by thoughts of her dead twin sister.

It had been twenty-one days since Sachi passed away. Everyone around Ai expected her to gradually recover from her sadness, and so she complied. She tried her best to act cheerful around people, pretending to be strong, pretending that everything was ok, pretending that it didn't hurt. But things were not fine. A part of her had been mercilessly torn away from her. She was left with this empty, bloody void that she didn't know what to do with. Things were not fine.

"Ne, Sachi-chan, they don't understand what it's like, do they?" Ai still talked to her sister, even though she was no longer there to listen. They had always been together. They were born together. They grew up together. During the past two years, when Sachi was sick, Ai was by her side day and night to take care of her. She always carried her on her back when they traveled, but now her back felt empty. The familiar weight of her sister's thinning body was no longer there. There was no one for her to care for, no one for her to protect. She didn't know what to do with herself anymore.

Ai could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. She was about to meet her new landlord, she didn't want her eyes to be red and swollen, she didn't want to leave a bad impression.

Ai had been staying with Haruka since she came to Konoha. Haruka was very kind and generous to her. "Kakashi's little sister is my little sister. You can stay with me for as long as you like." Haruka would often say to her, and Ai could tell that Haruka was being genuine and sincere. However, she had decided to move out to her own place after all.

"Because it's so hard to have to smile all the time, ne, Sachi-chan?" Ai said quietly. "I want to be able to cry whenever I want to, and you know I'm still going to cry for you, Sachi-chan."

Ai walked the rest of the way in sullen silence. Very soon she arrived at her destination, an old, charming, well maintained apartment building in the quiet part of town.

"This is a great location. There are shops and grocery stores nearby, but it's not noisy like the downtown area. Your apartment is on the second floor, so there won't be anyone above you. The apartment itself has been remodeled recently. The fridge and the curtains are brand new, and they just polished the hardwood floor last week, see how shiny it is?" The landlady showed Ai around the apartment enthusiastically. "The neighbors are quiet too. They are all young professionals with honest jobs, and everybody pretty much just keep to themselves. You'll really like it here."

Ai nodded nonchalantly. She took a check from her pocket and handed it to the landlady, who carefully checked the date and dollar amount before tucking it into her purse.

"I'm going to give you the key to the apartment. You can move in any time you like. Hmm..." The landlady fished out a large bundle of keys from her pocket. "I forgot which one is the key to this apartment. Guess we'll have to test them all to find out." She dragged Ai to the apartment door.

Ai patiently waited for the landlady to finish her business. She could hear other doors in the apartment complex opening and closing. The evening was approaching, and the young professionals were heading home after a long day of work. Footsteps sounded from the stairs. Ai looked up semi-curiously to see who her future neighbor would be. To her surprise, a familiar face appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Ai-san!" It was Izumo, the gatekeeper of Konoha, errand-runner of the Hokage, and the kind young man who offered her water when she and Sachi first arrived at the village.

"Izumo-san." Ai courteously replied.

"Fancy running into you here." Izumo looked at Ai curiously, and then at the landlady. Suddenly realization dawned on him. "It couldn't be… are you going to be my new neighbor?"

Not expecting to run into someone she knew, Ai nodded confusedly at the friendly young man, who continued to say excitedly, "That's great, we have to hang out some time. When are you moving in? Let me know if you need help with the furniture, ok?"

Ai nodded again. Suddenly the landlady let out a loud "Bingo!" and shoved a shiny key into Ai's hand. "Here's your key. Don't lose it, otherwise we'll have to charge you for a new duplicate. I live downstairs in apartment one, just come and knock on my door if you need anything." The busy landlady then excused herself and left, leaving Ai alone with her new neighbor.

The handsome young man said, almost a little too enthusiastically, "Say, I'm planning to grab some dinner in a little bit, would you care to join me?"

Ai shook her head apologetically. "My nee-san and nii-san are waiting for me at home, I have to go now… maybe next time?"

Izumo was disappointed at her answer, but he quickly recovered his smile and said, "Ok then, next time it is."

He watched Ai walked away from him, towards the stairs, suddenly noticing how thin the girl had become.

"Ai-san," He called after her, "take good care of yourself, ok?"

Ai turned around to look at Izumo, taking a moment to comprehend what he just said, but finally her face blossomed into a beautiful smile.

Izumo realized that he had forgotten how pretty she was.


	4. The Kunai Tavern

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 4: The Kunai Tavern

The fifth Hokage put down her pen, let out a loud yawn, and reached her hand back to give herself a little neck massage. "This paperwork is never ending." She complained loudly.

Suddenly she heard a knock on her office door. _Who could this be?_ She wondered. She wasn't expecting anyone in particular at this moment.

"Who is it?" She asked irritably. She still had a big pile of paperwork to finish, she really didn't want to waste her time talking to people instead.

"This is Yamato." The person outside replied.

_Yamato. _ Tsunade raised her eyebrows. She had sent him and his team on a mission a few days ago. She didn't expect them to return so soon. "Come on in." She said.

The door opened and in came the young, talented ANBU leader.

"Hokage-sama." Yamato greeted Tsunade courteously.

"You know," Tsunade shot him a curious look, "now that you're back at ANBU and not with Team Kakashi, you don't have to use your codename Yamato anymore. Why don't you go by your real name Tenzou instead?"

Yamato shrugged nonchalantly. "It doesn't matter to me. I like Yamato, it's a great name. How can you not like a name that means grand harmony?"

"Well then, suit yourself." Tsunade said impatiently. "How was the mission?"

"It was a complete success. We even finished it three days earlier than expected. Here's the mission report." Yamato handed Tsunade his neatly written report.

She glanced over the boring details on the report. "How's the new girl?"

"Hatake Ai? She's fantastic. An excellent fighter. Her double sword technique is amazing, and her henge," Yamato shook his head in admiration, "she's a pro. She doesn't even need hand seals. She has a couple other interesting ninjutsu too. Something to do with metal. I'm not exactly sure how it works, I'll have to ask her some time."

The Hokage nodded. "So no complaints?"

"Well," Yamato shrugged, "I guess she's kind of quiet, she doesn't really talk to anyone much."

Seeing the skeptical look on Tsunade's face, he quickly added, "I mean, not that it gets in the way of team work. She works very well with others, and she's polite to everyone. She's just…" Yamato scratched his head but failed to come up with a better word. "quiet."

"I suppose there's nothing wrong with being quiet." Tsunade said dryly. "Anyhow, do keep an eye on her for a while. After all, she did not grow up in this village. Even though she's Kakashi's cousin, we still have to consider the possibility of her being a spy."

Yamato nodded his understanding and took his leave. He had spent more time at the Hokage's office than expected, and the sky was already getting dark. _Dinner time,_ Yamato told himself. He walked into a nearby restaurant with a smile – nothing was better than a big, delicious meal after returning from a tiring mission.

On the other side of town, Hatake Ai walked alone on a busy street in the dimming day light, feeling hopelessly sad and lost.

She was exhausted from the mission, but she did not want to go back to her small, empty apartment and sat by herself, so she kept wandering on the street aimlessly. She supposed she could pay Kakashi and Haruka a visit, but perhaps not today, perhaps when she was in a better mood.

"Ne, Sachi-chan, where should we go?" She asked her dead sister, as if she were still alive and by her side. Even though Sachi and Ai were identical twins, their personalities differed greatly. Sachi was cheerful, outgoing and friendly, while Ai was quiet, shy and awkward. Naturally, Sachi became the leader among the two of them. She would always come up with interesting ideas and fun things to do, and Ai would simply follow her around, to keep her company and to protect her. Now that Sachi was gone, Ai had no one to follow or protect anymore. She felt strangely lost.

Ai continued to walk in sullen silence. After a while, she noticed that the crowd on the street was getting thinner. She surveyed her surroundings curiously and found out that she had already reached the edge of the downtown area. Not sure whether she should turn around or keep on walking towards the residential area, Ai paused on the street and looked around helplessly.

"Excuse me." Someone said behind her. Ai turned around, suddenly realizing that she was blocking the entry way of an establishment. She quickly apologized and stepped aside to let the person in, at the same time catching a glimpse of the place through the opening door. It seemed to be a small, quiet bar with only a few customers inside. The sign hanging on the door read "Kunai Tavern".

Ai had never been much of a drinker, but somehow alcohol felt like the right idea at this moment, so she pushed open the heavy wooden door and walked into the quaint little bar without second thoughts.

The bar was dimly lit. A mellow tune coming from a large, old-fashioned record player resonated softly in the background. A few round tables scattered casually across the hardwood floor, only about half of them were occupied, but Ai decided to opt for the bar instead.

"What can I offer you, young lady?" The bartender was a middle-aged, honest looking guy. He placed a napkin and a small bowl of snacks in front of Ai and asked.

"Hmm…" Ai thought indecisively for a moment and finally said, "I'll have a bottle of Hyaseura Sake." Ai remembered Sachi ordering this particular brand of sake before.

The bartender shot Ai a curious glance. Young women like that tended to prefer beer or fruity mixed drinks, but then young women like that also rarely patronized his bar. Most of the customers here were older, more mature middle-aged men. Anyway, it was nothing of his concern. He went to the refrigerator, took out the particular bottle that Ai requested, and poured its content into a square, wooden sake cup in front of Ai.

Ai thanked him and took a big sip of the aromatic rice wine. Somehow it tasted a lot better than she expected. It wasn't as bitter as she thought it would be, and she liked the way it glided down her throat and warmed up her stomach. Without much thought, she picked up the sake cup and took another sip, and another sip, and another sip. Very soon, she began to feel slightly intoxicated, and oddly serene. She crinkled her nose satisfactorily, the way she always did, and smiled a little smile. She picked up the sake bottle again and refilled her cup with more of the colorless nectar.

Morino Ibiki noticed the young woman almost as soon as she entered the bar. The ANBU interrogation specialist had been a regular at this old-fashioned little bar for years. He liked to stopped by once a week, almost always on the weekends, to have a drink and relax. It pleased him that this place was quiet and never crowded, and that the clientele consisted mostly of middle-aged men like himself, usually a good mix of shinobi and civilians. Young women like Ai were a rare sight at this down to earth bar that was simply not trendy enough for them.

Ibiki also noticed Ai because of the ANBU uniform she was wearing – standard black turtleneck tank top, silver armor plates, black pants, black shoes. The signature ANBU tattoo proudly displayed on her upper left arm. Ibiki had been a leader in ANBU for long enough to know almost everyone's faces, if not their names, yet he did not recognize this one. _She must be the new girl in Tenzou's team, or Yamato, whatever that kid calls himself these days._ Ibiki thought with amusement.

He surveyed the new ANBU member curiously. From the corner table he sat at, Ibiki could only see the girl's side profile, and the first thing he noticed was her delicate features. ANBU was designed to be an elite organization, its membership restricted to only the best of the best shinobi. Ibiki had no doubt that this girl was a well qualified kunoichi, but there was something about her that just seemed so oddly… fragile. Was it her slender figure? Her small, heart-shaped face? Perhaps it was the sense of loss that he saw in her eyes.

Being the commanding officer of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force, Ibiki had complete knowledge of human psychology. Rumors said that he only needed to glimpse at people's eyes to uncover their darkest and deepest secrets. That was of course an exaggeration, though it would explain why many people had an irrational fear against Ibiki, some even considered him a monster of sort. This used to bother Ibiki when he was younger, but now he just considered it a compliment of his superb ability to read the human mind.

However, Ibiki didn't need to use much of his ability to see that Ai was unhappy. Every little body language of hers showed -- the way she slouched on the bar stool, the way she drank cup of sake after another, the way she avoided eye contact with anyone at the bar, it was as if she was surrounded by an impenetrable air of sadness. Even when she occasionally smiled a little drunken smile at herself, she seemed sad. Ibiki quietly wondered what a young and pretty girl like her had to be sad about.

By the time Ibiki finished his last drink, it was almost closing time of the bar. Ibiki got up and put on his coat, but just when he was about to step out of the door, the bartender called out to him, "Ibiki-san."

Ibiki turned around and looked at the bartender questioningly. As a frequent patron of the Kunai Tavern, Ibiki was naturally familiar with the bartender. However, the two of them rarely had any conversation beyond their regular greetings.

"Ibiki-san," The bartender addressed him courteously, "sorry to bother you, but do you happen to know this young lady?" He pointed at Ai, who had fallen fast asleep at the bar table on her own folded arms.

Ibiki shook his head simply. "No, I do not know her."

"But she belongs to the same organization that Ibiki-san works for, doesn't she?" The bartender asked.

Ibiki unwillingly nodded. He already knew what was coming.

Just as he predicted, the bartender heaved a relieved sigh and said, "I'm so glad to hear that. Since you're her senpai, I thought perhaps you'd help to take care of her?" He looked at Ibiki expectantly.

Ibiki sighed inwardly and said, "I'll see what I can do." He went up and gently tapped the girl's shoulder, "Wake up, time to go home." Seeing that Ai did not respond to him, the interrogation specialist proceeded to pinched Ai lightly on her neck, at a location where a cluster of nerve endings gathered. This time it worked. Ai sat up with a jolt and looked at her surroundings confusedly.

"It's time to go home." Ibiki repeated again. Even though her eyes were still out of focus, Ai seemed to understand what he said. She slowly got up and stumbled out of the door by herself. The bartender said gratefully to Ibiki, "Thank you very much, Ibiki-san, next time you come your first drink will be on me. You have a good night now." Ibiki nodded at the bartender, and finally got to leave the bar.

To his surprise, he found Ai standing right in front of the bar's entrance, looking very much lost. Ibiki walked up to her and said, "Do you not remember where home is?"

Ai turned her head to look at Ibiki, then without warning, she closed her eyes and fell straight down towards him.

Ibiki managed to catch her body before she hit the ground. He looked at the unconscious woman in his arms with a deep frown. From his experience, he knew that the girl would not wake up again before tomorrow. "What a troublesome girl." He muttered to himself. What should he do with her now?

Ibiki would have simply taken Ai to the hospital and left her there if she had reached this state because she had been out partying all night. This way, there would be a record of her alcohol overdose, and her supervisor at ANBU would be notified of such irresponsible behavior.

However, the girl had not been partying. She drank because she was sad, and Ibiki, having been through many life wrecking situations in his life, understood very well that sometimes alcohol was the only way to soothe an injured soul.

Finally, Ibiki made up his mind. He threw the girl over his shoulder like she was a piece of luggage, and started to walk towards his own home.


	5. Morino Ibiki, the monster of Konoha

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 5: Morino Ibiki, the monster of Konoha

It was a fine Sunday morning. The temperature was a little cool, just the way Ibiki liked it. Soft, gentle rays of morning sun penetrated through the dark curtains and caressed his face. Ibiki slowly opened his eyes, feeling refreshed after a night of restful sleep. The alarm clock next to his bed read eight o'clock.

Due to the unpredictable nature of his work, Ibiki didn't always get his weekends off. He did have to go in to the office to take care of some business today, but it was no hurry, he could at least make himself a nice, warm breakfast first.

The thought of breakfast made Ibiki happy. The tokubetsu jounin had always been somewhat of a food connoisseur. He loved food, and he needed a lot of food to sustain his size and activity level. Thus, without further hesitation, Ibiki promptly rolled out of bed, put on his morning gown and headed straight to his kitchen.

He passed by the living room on his way and was caught off guard by the sight of a young, pretty girl lying on top of the supple leather of his sofa. He had completely forgotten about the girl. Ibiki stood in front of the couch for a moment and quietly observed the new ANBU member. She was fast asleep, dead to the world, but even when she slept she wore a deep frown, and the moisture collected at the corner of her eyes and on the pillow underneath suggested that she was weeping in her dreams.

_What made this girl so sad?_ Ibiki wondered as he walked into the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast.

Ai gradually woke up to the faint sound of bacon sizzling in the kitchen. Her head felt heavy, as if someone had forced lead into her brain. Her throat was dry like a desert, but her face was moist with tears. She didn't remember exactly but she knew that Sachi must have entered her dreams last night. She slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a beautifully crafted calligraphy of the word "perseverance" hanging on the wall above her head. Ai stared mindlessly at the elegant writing for a while, mentally tracing each stroke of the characters, and feeling the power of the word.

Suddenly, she sat up with a jolt and surveyed her surroundings nervously. She was situated in a spacious and tidy living room. Scattered around the space were elegant dark wood furniture arranged strategically to give the area an open feeling. A few carefully framed calligraphy hanged on the white walls, featuring words such as "patience", "endurance" and "zen", in addition to "perseverance".

In other words, this was not Ai's own cramped little apartment.

Ai began to frantically retrace her steps last night. She remembered walking into the Kunai Tavern. She remembered asking the bartender for the Hyaseura Sake. She remembered the taste of the cold, sweet fluid sliding down her throat, and the heat generated by the liquor in her stomach and on her face, but she had absolutely no recollection of what happened after that.

She carefully got up from the nice, soft sofa and walked towards the kitchen, where she could hear the sound of someone moving around. As she approached the kitchen, she felt her heart beating faster and faster with nervousness. _What on earth happened last night? How did she end up sleeping on a stranger's sofa?_

Ai was now standing right next to the kitchen door, hiding by the side of the door frame. She slowly peered into the kitchen, hoping to catch a glimpse of the owner of the house. However, to her horror, she found herself staring straight into a pair of piercing eyes on a scar-covered face!

Ai let out a surprised yelp and stumbled back, almost tripping herself over the carpet in the process. Not only was she startled by the unexpected face-to-face encounter, she was also shocked to recognize the owner of those eyes as one of the most fearsome figures in Konoha!

Morino Ibiki, head of ANBU's interrogation squad, a torture specialist who was rumored to have complete knowledge of the human mind. Even though he was highly respected in Konoha, he was feared by many and was often perceived as a monster of sort.

The infamous monster was now standing in front of her, clad in his dark blue pajamas underneath a black apron, frying bacons in the kitchen, looking as domestic as he could possibly be.

Ai was appalled. There she was, a new, junior member of ANBU, having passed out in a drunken stupor at a bar the night before, woke up in the house of one of the most respected ANBU leaders and witnessed an extremely personal side of him that he most likely would not want to share with others.

She wondered what Ibiki would do to her. Sure he would torture her into promising not to tell anyone about what she saw today? What kind of torture method would he use on her? Ai had heard about his sadistic personality. She supposed he could not really become the head of the torture and interrogation squad without a sadistic predisposition.

While Ai's mind was spinning wildly in fear, to her surprise, Ibiki merely said to her, in an unexpectedly gentle manner, "Good morning." Ai stared at Ibiki blankly with her soft eyes, suddenly realizing that Ibiki was her senpai by many levels, and that she needed to greet him properly and politely.

She quickly stood up straight and saluted to Ibiki formally, "Good morning Ibiki-san. This is Hatake Ai from the action squad, under the leadership of Yamato Taijou." However, Ibiki simply nodded and said, "You're finally awake. I was getting a bit worried about you." He seemed to be amused at Ai's self-imposed formality.

Ai lowered her head awkwardly, suddenly becoming uncomfortably aware of her alcohol-laden breath, her messy hair and her sweat drenched clothes.

Ibiki seemed to have read her mind as he pointed at the end of the hallway and said, "The restroom is over there if you'd like to freshen up yourself. You can find new towels in the cabinet."

Still avoiding eye contact with Ibiki, Ai quickly muttered a "thank you" and dashed towards the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and ducked her head under the cold water. The coolness felt great against her burning face, against her shame and guilt. _Oh what has she done? How did it end up like this? Even though Ibiki-san strangely doesn't seem to be in a sadistic mood today, sure he's going to report her to ANBU, to Yamato Taijou. Kakashi nii-san and Haruka nee-san will be so disappointed at her when they find out. Oh what has she done?_

Ai finally turned off the faucet after a long while. She opened the cabinet door to find a pile of neatly folded, flawlessly white towels in there. She took one out and used it to dry off her face and her hair, then carefully folded it back into a perfect square and left it next to the sink. She thought to herself, _it's time to go back out and face the consequence, to face the monster of Konoha. _

She took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked out slowly. She found the monster of Konoha sitting next to the dining table covered full with all kinds of delicious-looking food while sipping on a cup of hot coffee, reading the newspapers, and looking nothing but content.

Ibiki looked up from his newspaper and saw Ai standing there awkwardly, she looked like she was waiting for him to say something. "You feel a bit better?" He asked casually, and he got a small nod as a reply.

"Well then," Ibiki shrugged, "you're free to go." He looked back down at his newspaper.

However, Ai did not move from her position at all. Ibiki looked up at her again in surprise. He raised an eyebrow skeptically and said, "Unless you'd like to stay for some breakfast?"

Ai quickly shook her head. "That's not what I meant." She protested, but suddenly her stomach let out a loud, audible growl. The smell of all the delicious food had started her stomach juice flowing. After all, she had not eaten anything since she returned from her mission yesterday.

Ai could feel herself blushing furiously. Feeling humiliated, she stared at the ground blankly, wishing that she could simply henge into a little bug and fly away.

To her surprise, Ibiki let out a hearty laugh. He went into the kitchen, picked up a new dish and handed it to her. "I think your stomach has made a decision for you. Don't worry, I have extra food. Would you like some coffee?"

Following Ibiki's gesture, Ai sat down uncomfortably across the table from him. She surveyed the food items on the table. There was Western style food like egg, potato and bacon, as well as traditional breakfast such as rice porridge and pickles of all different kinds, in addition to an assortment of fruits and pastries. With this amazing array of food displayed in front of her, Ai suddenly decided to give up on worrying. _ Let Ibiki-san report her to Yamato Taijou. Let ANBU fire her. She will become a wanderer of the world again. This time without her sister by her side. _

Ai quickly collected food onto the plate and began to consume them at a speed that made Ibiki stop eating to stare at her instead. He couldn't help but make a comment, "You sure eat a lot for someone your size."

Ai's face had once again turned red in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Ibiki-san." She apologized. "I'll pay you back for the food."

Ibiki shook his head. "I didn't mean that. I was just surprised, that's all. Most girls of your age are on some sort of diet these days." In fact, he has started to take a liking to the girl simply because of how much she ate.

Ai felt the need to explain herself. "I was taking care of my sister when she was gravely ill, and she couldn't eat much. I always ended up having to finish her portion as well because our mother taught us to never waste food."

Ibiki nodded, he lived by the same principle of never wasting food himself. "I hope your sister has returned to good health." He said.

However, Ai looked down and said quietly, "She passed away a little while ago."

Ibiki had expected the answer, and he knew exactly that this was the reason of the girl's depression and binge drinking behavior. He could only say, rather superficially, "I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm sure you took very good care of your sister, and she was glad to have a sister like you."

But Ai's body visibly shook. "Kakashi nii-san said exactly the same thing." She said in a barely audible voice. Her eyes had already welled up with tears, but she was trying to breath deeply so that the tears wouldn't fall.

Ibiki sighed inwardly. He was planning to spend a peaceful morning with his newspaper and his food, but instead he ended up with a crying girl. That was what he got for being nice and not sending her to the hospital last night.

He tried to change the subject. "You call Kakashi-san nii-san? How are you related to him?"

"Our mother and nii-san's father were siblings, but mother married a civilian in the Land of Lightning during the early years of the Great Ninja War. Our father passed away when we were little, so mother resumed the use of Hatake as our family name, thinking that one day we would all return to Konoha." She said. Ibiki's attempt to change the subject had succeeded, and Ai was able to regain her composure.

Ibiki nodded. He vaguely remembered hearing stories about the White Fang's family during the wars, but he was very young himself at that time, so he didn't remember much of the details.

The two of them resumed eating in silence. Finally Ai had begun to slow down. As she nibbled on a crispy slice of perfectly fried bacon, she asked curiously, "Did Ibiki-san cook all these food by yourself?"

"Yes," Ibiki said matter-of-factly. "I have been living by myself for many years, I have to learn to cook in order to feed myself."

"Ibiki-san is a great cook. Everything here is delicious." Ai said genuinely. "That pickled radish, is it from the Land of Water?" She felt very surreal to be having a normal conversation about food with the infamous monster of ANBU, who did not seem to be monstrous in any way at all.

Ibiki's eyes widened in response to Ai's question. "You recognize this pickle? I got it at a foreign food store in downtown. I like it a lot because it carries a subtle aroma of pear."

"That's because they pickled it with a special pear vinegar unique to the south of Water Country." Ai explained. "When my sister and I were traveling around different countries to seek cure of her disease, I always tried to find interesting food for her to cheer her up, so I got to know quite a bit about food."

"You are a great sister indeed." Ibiki said again, this time with sincerity.

Ai lowered her head. Ibiki could see that she wanted to talk about her sister, but she felt inappropriate to do so. He could also see that the girl had been repressing her emotions for a long time, especially in front of those who cared about her, simply because she didn't want them to worry. However, Ibiki the psychologist knew that it was an extremely unhealthy thing to do. Negative emotions needed to be let out and resolved, otherwise they could have detrimental effects on both the mind and body.

Ibiki sighed to himself again. Fine, he had already started this charity act by bringing the girl home, he might as well finish the job properly. So much for a quiet and peaceful Sunday morning.

"Would you… like to tell me more about your sister?" Finally Ibiki asked.

Ai's eyes lit up in disbelief as Ibiki asked the question. He suddenly began to think that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to do some voluntary therapist work on a fine Sunday morning after all.


	6. A new friendship

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. It always makes me so happy to see the number of hits increases. Please do drop me a line and let me know what you think of the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 6: A new friendship

Another day, another mission accomplished. Hatake Ai traveled down the already familiar route through the forest towards Konoha with Yamato as the two of them just completed a small out-of-town mission together.

"Looks like we'll finally get a few days off after this mission. You have any plans for the weekend?" Yamato asked in an attempt to strike up small talks with his overly quiet subordinate, but Ai only smiled and shook her head as a response.

"Why don't you go hang out with your friends? What about the other kids on our team? Are they not nice to you?" Yamato asked in an elder brotherly manner.

Ai quickly shook her head again. "That's not the case, Taijou, everyone on the team is very kind to me. It's just that… I prefer to spend time alone."

"It's not healthy for a young girl like you to be alone all the time. You should be busy hanging out with friends and dating boys when you're not on missions. Aren't you friends with Kotetsu and Izumo? They are both really great guys. Kotetsu's got a girl friend now but Izumo is still single. Perhaps you should consider going out with him." It was now a well known secret among Izumo's friends that the gatekeeper had fallen for the new girl in town, and everyone was trying as hard as they could to hook them up.

However, Ai just smiled and said, "Taijou, I know they are all great people. They always try to cheer me up when they are with me, but sometimes I just don't want to be cheered up. I'm not ready for that yet." Ai knew how pathetic and childish this must have sounded to Yamato, but she didn't care. Just like everyone else, he wouldn't understand how she really felt anyway. The loss of a sibling who was once part of your own flesh created a much bigger wound than most could empathize.

_There was only one person who understood her need to be sad. _ Ai suddenly remembered. That person had said to her,_ "It's perfectly ok to mourn. Mourning is part of healing, and different people take different amount of time to heal, so mourn for as long as you need."_

And that person also said, with such a wise and worldly look in his eyes._ "Just don't let mourning be the only thing you do. You still have to move on with your life while you are mourning. You are allowed to smile even while you are mourning."_

Ai could accept and appreciate words of consolation when they were put together like that. In fact, it felt great to finally have someone who seemed to understand her needs and her pain. She actually thought that she had recovered a lot since that conversation… BECAUSE of that conversation.

Perhaps she would pay that person a visit again. Since everyone else told her that she needed to have friends, perhaps she would ask that person to be her friend, even though the choice might seem odd to others.

Suddenly, she had a plan for tonight, so she crinkled her nose and smiled a little smile, the way she always did when she was happy.

***

It had been a long day at work for Morino Ibiki. This morning the action squad sent over a spy who held vital information that would lead to the success of an S-rank mission appointed by the feudal lord himself. It took Ibiki a long time and a lot of advanced "techniques" to finally crack the lips of the tough criminal open. By the time he managed to send the information back to the action squad, Ibiki was beyond exhaustion.

A lot of people in Konoha assumed that Ibiki had a sadistic predisposition and that he truly enjoyed torturing others with his physical and psychological techniques. People claimed that they could see a glint of joy in his eyes when he held a torture device in his hands. However, in reality Ibiki did not like practicing those techniques at all. His menacing demeanor was nothing but a persona that he chose to display in front of others.

Ibiki intentionally gave himself a reputation of being a sadistic monster because this image helped to make his job easier – it was not uncommon for criminals to break down at the sight of him before they were even interrogated, saving Ibiki a lot of time and energy and the torturing techniques that he did not like.

There was, however, a problem with this tactic. Sometimes, especially after spending a long time in his sadistic mode, Ibiki had difficulty pulling himself out of the persona at the end of the day. Like today, even though it had already been an hour since he finished interrogating the spy, he could still feel his body filled with angry energy and his heart filled with cold, hard mercilessness. It was not a pleasant feeling to have lingering around, and he truly hated it when that happened. So many times he thought about quitting his job, but he always ended up staying because SOMEBODY had to get the work done, and there was no question that he was one of the very best.

_Being a janitor is not a pleasant job either, but it's an important job and someone has to do it, right? Not everyone is lucky enough to have a flashy, fun job that pays well. His job is not flashy and fun, but at least it pays very well. _Ibiki thought to himself sulkily on his way home. He tried to wind down by thinking about what he was going to have for dinner, only to remember that he had practically nothing left in his pantry and his fridge, and that he was too tired to go to the store to pick something up at this late hour. He would have to resort to canned food tonight.

Canned food. How disgusting.

Ibiki walked the rest of the way home in depression. Finally he reached the outskirt of town, where the luxurious town house he bought a few years ago located. However, as he was about to pull out his keys from his pocket, he noticed a dark shadow slouching on his door step, leaning against the door.

He pulled out a kunai from his weapon pouch instead.

"Who's there?" He asked aloud. Judging by the strong and well controlled chakra signature exuded, Ibiki knew that his unknown visitor was a shinobi of high caliber.

Upon his inquiry, the dark shadow first gave a quick jolt, then slowly stood up. It appeared that the person had fallen asleep on the doorstep until awaken by Ibiki's voice. A familiar face appeared in front of Ibiki as the shadow took a step forward into the street light. It was the girl from last time. Yamato's subordinate, Kakashi's younger cousin. What was her name again? Same last name as Kakashi so she was a Hatake… Hatake… Hatake Ai. What the heck was she doing here?

"Ibiki-san." Ai addressed him with a shy smile, but what she got in return was a frown and a curt "What do you want from me?" from Ibiki.

Ai was taken aback by Ibiki's demeanor. There was something different about the Ibiki that stood in front of her tonight. She could tell that this Ibiki was not the same person who saved her from the bar a few weeks ago. This Ibiki would not have invited her to stay for breakfast. This Ibiki was dangerous and menacing, while the other Ibiki was kind and thoughtful.

This Ibiki was truly the sadistic monster of ANBU that everyone in Konoha feared.

Ai found herself frozen in fear in front of the bear-like man, who was still looking at her dangerously, waiting for an answer from her.

"I… I…" Ai began to stutter out of nervousness, "I'm wondering if Ibiki-san will let me make you dinner tonight to thank you for being so kind to me last time." She finished her sentence with some difficulty.

Ibiki stared at the girl blankly. He could hear every single word she said, but he couldn't comprehend them. Dinner… tonight… thank you… did she just offer to make him dinner? No one had ever offered to make Ibiki dinner, saved for his own mother, who passed away when he was still young, when his brother Idate was barely more than a toddler. For as long as Ibiki could remember, he had always made his own dinner.

Until now.

Suddenly, the dangerous aura surrounding Ibiki dissipated, like ice being thrown into fire. The Ibiki standing in front of Ai now was once again the gentle man who would patiently listened to her grieves and offered her his consolation.

"You said… dinner? Sure… I suppose." Ibiki said, almost uncomfortably. "What should I… where should we go?"

"My apartment is too small for guests," Ai explained embarrassingly, "I'm wondering if Ibiki-san will let me prepare the food in your kitchen instead. I brought all the ingredients." She showed him the large grocery bag in her hand.

"Sure, of course." Ibiki fished out the keys from his pockets and let both of them in. Ai went straight to the kitchen, put down the groceries, asked to be shown where the cooking utensils were, then she smiled at Ibiki and said, "Why doesn't Ibiki-san go and rest for a bit? It won't take me too long."

Ibiki went to the living room and sat down on the couch obediently, still didn't quite believe what had just happened. Five minutes ago he was in a nasty bad mood, trying fruitlessly to fight off his pent-up aggression from work, five minutes later he was sitting calmly on his couch, waiting for dinner to be served, all because of this girl.

In Ibiki's memory, there was only one other person who had this effect on him -- his own baby brother Idate. Ever since a very young age, Idate had proven himself to be a superior jokester that could bring a smile to even the most stoic person. Ibiki loved coming home to his little brother at the end of the day. No matter how tired or frustrated he was, Idate could always cheer him up with one of his silly jokes. The two brothers loved and took care of each other for years, until Idate failed the chuunin exam and ran away from Konoha.

But, Ibiki quickly reminded himself, Idate was fine now. He was living happily in another country, being a useful person and serving the feudal lord there. He, Ibiki, had nothing to worry about.

Ibiki slowly gathered his thoughts that had drifted far away. He could begin to smell something delicious coming from the kitchen. He wondered what was on the dinner menu, so he stood up and moved towards the kitchen quietly.

Peering into the aroma-filled space, Ibiki could see some fish grilling on his gourmet grill, a stew of some sort boiling slowly in the pot, and miso paste being stir fried into the eggplants on the stove. Ai was busily tending to all the culinary activities, making sure that none of the dishes received too little attention from her. The act of cooking seemed to bring her joy, as she gently hummed a tune while hustling and bustling between the grill, the pot and the stove.

Ai eventually sensed the presence of Ibiki by the door, so she turned around and smiled at him. "Dinner is almost ready. I'll go set the table up."

Ibiki had a moment of déjà vu as he remembered the way his mother used to say the same thing when he came home from training hungry. His mother was a gentle and fragile woman who'd never raised her voice at anyone. The young girl in front of him strangely reminded him of his deceased mother.

Ibiki quickly snapped himself out of his memories as he grabbed the plates and silverwares from Ai's hands and said, "Let me help you." Very soon the dinner table was covered with an excessive amount of hearty home-cooking. Ibiki could not wait to taste all the delicious looking food.

"Itadakimasu!" Ibiki and Ai said to each other. Ibiki immediately sent a large piece of grilled fish into his mouth, but Ai didn't move her chopsticks at all. Instead she quietly watched Ibiki eat, almost as if she was waiting for something to happen.

She indeed got what she was waiting for. Ibiki took a few bites of the fish, then suddenly stopped chewing as if he was surprised by something. Ai smiled secretly at herself as she patiently waited for Ibiki to speak.

"This fish… it's smoked mackerel with lemon juice and chili paste, but there's something else to it that I can't quite point my finger at." Ibiki pondered aloud. "Is it Cheyenne pepper?" Ai shook her head. "Is it tumeric?" A witty little smile began to spread across Ai's face as she shook her head again. "Rosemary? Sage? Thyme?" Ibiki randomly threw out names of spices and herbs at her, but he finally gave up. "Ok, tell me, what is it?"

"It's cumin, Ibiki-san."

"Cumin!" Ibiki slapped his own thigh. "The culinary magazines are always raving about it, but I've only had it a few times. I didn't know you can put that on smoked fish. It works extremely well."

Ai explained. "It's a traditional recipe from the Land of Waves. I just completed a mission there so I picked up some cumin at a local store on the way back."

Ibiki then proceeded to taste and inquire about the other dishes served at dinner tonight. Each one of them turned out to be a common dish with an interesting twist to it. Dinner progressed steadily and comfortably, and both ANBU members were surprised at how easily conversation flew between the two of them, given that neither of them were particularly good at small talks and that they were about as different as two people could be.

Even though there was an excessive amount of food, the two food lovers managed to finish everything without the slightest amount of difficulty. Finally, Ibiki leaned back into the chair with satisfaction and said, "You are truly an amazing cook."

Ai's face turned a shade redder while she beamed at Ibiki's compliment. She smiled and said, "I love cooking for others. I took over the cooking duty at home when I was twelve or so, because I enjoyed doing it so much. Sachi-chan was very grateful for that because our mother had never been a great cook…" Ai chuckled softly at her comment.

Ibiki laughed with her. It felt great to be able to laugh around with somebody at the dinner table, almost like when Idate was still around. Perhaps, if he had a little sister that took after his mother, that was what his family dinner would be like.

However, suddenly Ai stopped laughing. She had a look of both surprise and revelation on her face. "Ibiki-san… this is the first time I could talk about Sachi-chan after she died… while still laughing…"

Then doubts and confusions set in. _Does it mean that she is starting to forget about her sister? Was it ok to laugh while talking about her dead sister? Should she feel guilty about it? It seemed only yesterday that she scattered Sachi's ashes down the waterfall. Wasn't it a bit too soon for her to be healing already? _

Finally, Ai broke into uncontrollable loud sobs as her mind collapsed under the pressure of such strong and conflicting emotions.

Ibiki quietly watched the emotions displayed across her face. He understood each and every one of them. He understood that such kind of self-doubts and uncertainties were part of the normal process of healing.

All he could do -- all he needed to do -- was walked up next to the sobbing girl and gently pat her back with his large and warm hand silently.


	7. Of Izumo's confession, of love and

A/N: Thank you all you kind readers for reading, but how come you aren't reviewing? Please, I'd really love to hear from you… 

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 7: Of Izumo's confession, of love and felicity

Ai stood in front of her kitchen cabinet, looking thoughtfully at her proud collection of herbs and spices, wondering which ones she should bring with her to Ibiki's house tonight.

As strange as it might sound, a friendship had been slowly building between the Monster of Konoha and the Damsel in Permanent Distress, as some people in Konoha had decided to call her. The two of them met up regularly, about once a week or every other week, to cook and explore new recipes with each other. For some unknown reason, when they were together, the monster was never menacing and the damsel was no longer in distress.

These gatherings had become the one thing that Ai looked most forward to in her dull routine daily life. She was particularly excited about tonight because Ibiki had agreed to teach her the art of calligraphy after dinner.

Ai had been admiring all the beautiful calligraphy hanging around Ibiki's house ever since she first set foot in it. After finding out that Ibiki himself was the artist behind those amazing writings, Ai decided that she must learn the art from the master, and Ibiki had kindly agreed to it.

As Ai was locking the door to her apartment, her friend and neighbor Izumo stepped out of his own apartment as well.

"Ai-chan!" Izumo greeted her cheerfully.

Izumo was one of the few other people in Konoha that Ai felt closer to. They hung out every now and then, sometimes with Kotetsu and his girlfriend, sometimes just the two of them. Ai always appreciated how eagerly the two boys tried to console her and made her feel better, even though sometimes she became borderline annoyed at their exaggerated cheerfulness.

"I haven't seen you for a while. Have you been on a lot of out-of-town missions?" He couldn't suppress his yearning for her in his voice.

Ai nodded and smiled nicely at Izumo. Izumo noticed that she had gained a bit of weight, and no longer looked as ghostly thin as before. She also had color in her face now. Overall, Izumo thought she looked a lot happier than a month ago.

"You're looking great, Ai-chan." He said genuinely. "Say, what are you doing for dinner tonight? We haven't hung out for a while. I heard about this new restaurant in downtown, you wanna go check it out with me?"

"I have plans for tonight already." Ai said apologetically. Seeing how disappointed the handsome young man looked, she quickly checked her watch and said, "I have about an hour before I have to go, would you like to go for coffee instead?" She was planning to use that extra hour to check out the foreign food store in downtown, but she didn't have to, she had everything she needed for tonight.

A big smile spread out on Izumo's face. "Deal, coffee it is. Our usual place?"

Izumo intentionally picked a quiet and secluded table at the café near their apartment complex that both of them frequented. He seemed calm and carefree on the surface, but inside he was in turmoil. He didn't remember exactly when and how but he had fallen for this girl for a long time. Did it happen as early as when he first met her, when he watched her take care of her ill sister under the tree at the gate out of the corner of his eyes? Something about this girl stirred him like no other kunoichi did. Her softness, her gentleness, her tenderness, not just to her dead twin sister but to everyone around her, she was so fragile yet so strong, she was so amazingly beautiful, she swept Izumo off his feet like a whirlwind.

His feelings for her were so strong that he couldn't contain it anymore. He had to let her know. Izumo decided that today might as well be the day that he confessed his feelings to her – she seemed happy today, and Izumo couldn't help but took some credits for helping her recover from her sadness.

The two of them sat down at the table and slipped into easy, casual conversations. What Ai liked most about Izumo was how comfortable he made her feel. Ai was never one who was good at socializing. When Sachi was around, she would simply let her do all the talking as she herself sat back and smiled politely, perhaps occasionally threw in a comment or two. Now that she was on her own, she often got stuck in awkward silences when she talked to people.

The good thing about Izumo was that he talked a lot, hence allowing Ai to resume her old, comfortable stance of smiling and nodding most of the time. Like now, Izumo was telling her little funny stories of the Hokage as he was frequently at the receiving end of her quirks and bad tempers being her personal assistant. Ai couldn't help but smile broadly at the stories.

Finally the waitress brought their drinks over. Izumo took a sip of the bitter sweet fluid, pondering how he should start this conversation. He could feel butterflies fluttering inside his stomach, and these were gigantic monarch butterflies no less.

He decided to go with frankness.

"Ai-chan," He sat closer to her and said, "I have something to tell you."

Ai could feel the sudden change in Izumo's attitude. She looked at her friend the gatekeeper curiously, wondering what he would tell her that would require such solemness.

"Ai-chan," Izumo looked firmly into her eyes, "I like you very much. Would you consider going out with me?"

Izumo's words took Ai by surprise. She stared at the handsome young man blankly, not quite sure if she fully understood what he had just said. She opened and closed her mouth several times but failed to actually say anything in response.

Izumo quietly observed Ai's facial expression, and he could feel his heart sink. _Oh no, she clearly doesn't reciprocate his feelings._ He thought to himself sadly. However, he forced the nicest smile onto his face and said bravely, "Ai-chan, it's ok if you don't feel the same way about me. We can still be friends. I just want to let you know how I feel about you."

His friendly manner relaxed Ai. She smiled back awkwardly and said, "You scared me, Izumo. No one ever said those things to me. I don't know what to think of it. I never think about these things myself."

Ai's words made Izumo feel hopeful again. _So she's just a diamond in the rough. All she needs is some polishing and some encouragement, and she'll become his shiny gem of love._ Izumo thought sappily.

"Ai-chan, it's ok if you want to take things slowly. You can give it some time, think it through, I will always be here for you." He said fondly and tenderly.

Ai smiled at him again. Curiously she asked, "Izumo, what does it feel like to like somebody?"

_Ah, here comes Love Lesson 101_, Izumo thought, almost smugly. He thought about the topic seriously for a moment before he started his lecture.

"Well, liking someone is a very special feeling." Izumo started. "You think about that one special person a lot, and you yearn to be with them all the time."

He paused to see if Ai was following, and was satisfied to see that he had completely captured her attention.

"Then when you are with that special person, you yearn for physical contact, like this." He reached out boldly to take Ai's hand in his. Ai was surprised by his action, but she let him hold onto her hand good-naturedly. Izumo secretly sighed a sigh of relief at himself.

"And when you are finally holding the person you like, your heart will start beating very fast, and your inside will start tingling in a funny way, like this." Izumo placed Ai's hand on his chest. "Can you feel how fast my heart is beating right now? Any faster it will jump out of my mouth, and you will have to save me with a medical jutsu." Izumo's words made Ai giggle, and he laughed along with her.

They laughed together for a while, until Ai looked at her watch and said, "Izumo, I really have to go now."

Izumo nodded and let go of her hand. He picked up the tab and said, "Let me get this."

Ai gave him a quick and friendly hug. "Thank you, Izumo."

Izumo smiled and said, "I will see you around. Give what we said today a thought, OK? And take care of yourself during missions."

Ai nodded, "I will." Then she turned around and headed straight to Ibiki's house.

***

In a dark, windowless, soundproof room at the basement of the Torture and Interrogation Department, Morino Ibiki paced the hard concrete floor while patiently waited for his "guest" to speak.

Being tightly bound onto the solo chair in the empty room was a rugged-looking middle-aged man, who looked to be in a rather disheveled state. His body was covered with countless cuts and bruises, none of them fatal in and of itself, but together they represented hours of horrid torture performed by none other than Konoha's top interrogation specialist himself.

The gentleman named Ogawa who was fortunate enough to receive Ibiki's world class service today was a prominent member of an underground crime organization. The action squad of ANBU had been trying to track down the location of the crime organization's headquarter for a long time to no avail. Finally they captured someone who held that vital piece of information, so they promptly sent him to Ibiki for the extraction of information.

However, Ogawa had proven himself to be a tough nut to crack. Even after the application of seven different torture devices, the man had given out barely more than a few grunts, let alone the location of his organization's headquarter. This man was clearly not afraid of pain, or even death itself. That really made the job hard for the interrogator.

_It's time to change to a psychological tactic. In fact, it's time to use THAT strategy_, Ibiki thought to himself darkly. He opened the folder that contained all the data ANBU had on Ogawa, from which he took out a photograph of a beautiful little girl that they confiscated from Ogawa's wallet.

He intentionally walked in front of Ogawa and pretended to appreciate the photograph with a primal and sadistic smile on his face. A smile that reflected no joy in his eyes.

"What a beautiful daughter you have, Ogawa-san." Ibiki spoke with a deep, cold voice.

Ogawa did as much as raising an eyebrow at Ibiki's comment, acting as if Ibiki's sudden interest in his daughter did not concern him the slightest bit.

"How old is she now? Seven? Eight? I wonder what she is doing at the moment, at your house in the countryside." The data sent in by the Data Department did not contain direct information on where Ogawa lived, but Ibiki made a bold guess based on a few other pieces of information in the folder.

Judging from the glint of concern in Ogawa's eyes, Ibiki knew that his guess was indeed correct.

He continued to bluff. "Do you think she is playing with that brown teddy bear you gave her? Or reading her favorite storybook about princesses?" He sounded as if he had been to Ogawa's house and personally met his little girl, which of course was not the case. This was just one of Ibiki's many little tricks, and an extremely effective one no less.

Ibiki saw that he had finally captured Ogawa's attention. He had successfully put doubts in his mind, led him to wonder if Ibiki did actually know where his family lived. Even though Ogawa still maintained a stoic expression on his face, Ibiki could begin to smell his fears. Ibiki could smell fear like sharks could smell blood.

Ibiki decided that it was time to throw the final blow. He said darkly and slowly, baring his teeth like an animal while doing so, "You know, I do wonder about your little girl… I wonder how well she can take someone like me… between her legs?"

Glancing from the corner of his eyes, Ibiki could see blood quickly faded away from Ogawa's face as he began to shake uncontrollably like a fallen leaf. This man was not afraid of death, but Ibiki had just threatened him with something darker than death itself.

Ibiki knew he did it. He opened the door and signaled his subordinates in, who would take careful records of whatever Ogawa had to say and send the information quickly to the action squad. His job here was done.

Ibiki maintained a calm expression on his way back to his office, while receiving admiring praises from his coworkers on another Job Well Done. However, as soon as he entered the office and closed the door behind him, he began to tremble violently. He buried his face in his hands and felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe he had just threatened to rape an innocent little girl. Even thought the little girl's father was a horrible criminal, even though Ibiki knew that it would be the only way to get to Ogawa, he still felt like such a dirty and sinful person to have made a threat like that. He felt angry and frustrated at himself. He hated his job. Suddenly his office felt claustrophobically small to him. He needed to leave. He needed to be away from the Torture and Interrogation Department right now. Even though it was still a bit early, Ibiki promptly gathered his stuff and walked out of the cold, heartless building.

***

Inside Ibiki's gourmet kitchen, Ai happily prepared dinner for the two of them tonight.

Ibiki was not home yet, but he told Ai she could let herself in anytime so that she could get dinner started. Breaking into a house was of course nothing difficult for a top caliber shinobi like Ai.

Ai hummed a little tune as she took out one thing after another from her grocery bags. Finally she finished all the washing and chopping. Now it was just a matter of letting their dinner stew a little bit on Ibiki's expensive iron cast skillet.

It was then that Ai heard the door open and footsteps shuffled in. Ibiki was home. Ai walked out cheerfully to greet him, only to find the man tiredly walked towards his couch and sat down heavily on it.

There was darkness all across Ibiki's face. His whole body was tense. He looked like he was a beast ready to hunt, yet he looked hurt at the same time.

Suddenly Ai did something that surprised even herself. She walked promptly towards Ibiki. She opened her arms. She put one arm on his back to embrace his body, and one arm behind his head to bury his face into the nook between her neck and shoulder. She placed her own face against his and gently rubbed against it. Her hand pat the back of his head consolingly.

This was something that she would always do to Sachi when her sister was sad, when she was hurt, when she needed comfort. Somehow, at that moment, through his menacing exterior, Ibiki looked as fragile as her sister once was.

Ibiki was shocked at first. He had not been embraced and comforted like this for years, not after his own mother had died. He sat there motionless for a while, but as he slowly got used to the sensations, he tentatively reached out his arms and placed them on Ai's back as well.

Ai's body was puny compared to his own, yet it exuded a tremendous amount of warmth that traveled across their respective clothing and reached all the way into his heart. He could feel his muscles relaxing as a result. He stopped trembling. In the back of his head he thought to himself: _If a pure-hearted girl like Ai is willing to embrace him like this, even knowing what his job entails, he, Ibiki, the monster of Konoha, cannot possibly be that horrible a person right?_

This thought alone comforted him like nothing else ever did. Ibiki closed his eyes, sighed a sigh of relief, and let himself fully immerse in the embrace.

Ai could feel the changes in Ibiki's body. At first all of his muscles were stiff and tense, Ai almost felt like she was holding a marble statue in her arms. Then he slowly relaxed. When he finally returned the embrace by placing his hands on her back, Ai could feel her heart went "thump" dramatically.

Ai suddenly became sensitively aware of the contact between Ibiki and herself. She could feel his warm breaths on her neck. She could feel the five o'clock shadow on his face tickling her own soft skin. She could feel his giant hands on her back, pressing her body ever so gently towards his. All of these made Ai blush. Her heart began to race uncontrollably. It felt as if there were ants crawling all over her inside.

Suddenly Izumo's words flashed across her mind. _When you are finally holding the special someone that you like, your heart will start beating very fast, and your inside will start tingling in a funny way._

If that was really the case then… was it possible that… could it be… was she really…

It was then when Ibiki lifted his head from Ai's neck and asked, "Is something burning in the kitchen?"

Ai let out a yelp and ran towards the kitchen, with Ibiki following closely behind her. She had completely forgotten about their dinner and left it stewing for too long on the stove! Without thinking, she reached out her hand to lift the cast iron skillet off the stove, but immediately let go because of the pain from the burning heat, causing the skillet to fall straight towards the floor.

Ibiki wanted to rescue their dinner but he was too far away from it. However, he saw Ai quickly gathered chakra into her right arm, so intense that it resulted in a soft blue glow around her skin. She pointed her arm at the falling skillet without touching it, and then, as if there were magic, the skillet stayed still in mid-air half way through its fall. Ai continued to move her arm towards the direction of the counter and maneuvered the skillet through the air until it sat down safely on the counter.

Ai retracted her chakra and hurried to examine their food. She looked up with a smile and said, "Looks like only a very small part is burnt. We can still have dinner tonight." However, Ibiki was distracted by the mysterious technique that Ai just displayed in front of his eyes. He was an extremely knowledgeable shinobi, and even he had never seen something like that. "What was the jutsu you just used?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, that was just magnetic force." Ai said matter-of-factly. "I have lightning-based chakra like the rest of my family, so when I run my chakra like electricity around an imaginary coil inside my arm, it creates a magnetic field like an electromagnet I think." She shrugged and said, "I found out I could do that when I was playing with my chakra as a child, though it's just a useless technique. Can't really apply it during a battle -- let me set up the table so that we can eat." She hurried out to the dining room to get ready for dinner.

_A magnetic jutsu._ Ibiki thought curiously. He had heard of only one family that could maneuver magnetism with their chakra, and it was definitely a kekkei genkai ability that could only be inherited from a parent. He didn't think what Ai did was as simple as she explained, at least as far as he knew neither Kakashi nor other lightning chakra users could create a magnetic field with their chakra like this.

"Ibiki-san, dinner is ready to be served." Ai called out to him from the dining room, interrupting his thought process, so he decided to drop the topic and walked out of the kitchen instead.

Despite the slight mishap, the dinner had proven itself to be just as delicious. After the satisfactory meal, when Ai was diligently cleaning the dishes in the kitchen, Ibiki set to lay out all the brushes and paper they would need for the calligraphy lesson he promised.

"I'm ready for the lesson, Ibiki-san." Ai sat down at the table next to him. Her hands still a bit moist from washing the dishes, and she had taken off her jacket so that it wouldn't get wet. Ibiki noticed the bandage wrapped around her upper arm. "Did an enemy nin did that to you?" He asked with concerns.

"Oh, actually one of our collaborators from Suna did that by accident during our mission together. It's just a small cut. The medic overdid the bandages, that's it." Ai said good naturedly.

Ibiki shook his head disapprovingly. "Tell him to be more careful next time, if there's a next time."

He then laid out a piece of calligraphy paper flat on the table.

"Here, pick up your brush like this." He showed her the correct way to hold a calligraphy brush, and taking the care to physically move her wrist and fingers so that she could achieve the perfect brush holding position. The physical contact caused Ai's ears to burn again. She hoped that Ibiki didn't notice it.

Ibiki then proceeded to teach her how to write horizontal versus vertical strokes with the brush. "You exert just a little more pressure at the beginning of a stroke, and you finish by lifting your brush up so that your stroke will taper at the end." He demonstrated first, then encouraged Ai to try it herself.

Ai tried her best to imitate what Ibiki did. However, while the strokes made by Ibiki were elegant and powerful, hers looked like nothing but skinny chicken scrawl on the paper.

She pouted and mumbled unhappily, "Mine looks nothing like yours…"

Ibiki gave a loud and hearty laugh. He ruffled her hair endearingly and said, "You silly child, I had to take years of lessons to be able to write like this."

He stopped laughing when he noticed that Ai was staring at him with a sullen look on her face. "Is it true that I'm just a child to Ibiki-san?" She asked somewhat sadly.

Confused, Ibiki said to Ai, "I'm almost twice your age, so of course you are a child compared to me." He said matter-of-factly.

"But I'm already eighteen. I'm legally an adult woman." Ai protested.

Ibiki laughed again. "Fine, fine, you are an adult woman. Now, shall we try to practice writing some words?"

"Hmmm," Ai's attention quickly changed. She tilted her head cutely and said. "what words should I write?"

"How about your name? You have a very nice name, unlike me." Ibiki suggested.

Ai chuckled softly. "I like Ibiki-san's name… a snore in the forest, sounds just like a snuggly bear to me."

_Snuggly bear huh?_ Ibiki glanced at Ai with a frown. "I suppose my parents never want me to forget the fact that I'm big." He said dryly.

Still chuckling, Ai picked up a brush and began to slowly craft out the character that was her name. "I'll write Sachi-chan's name too."

_Ai and Sachi… love and felicity… _Ibiki recited softly in his mind. What beautiful names. "Hey, among you and your twin sister, who's older?" He asked curiously."I'm older than Sachi-chan by fifteen minutes, that's why I got the name Ai and my sister got Sachi." Ai said without lifting her head from her writing. "Our mother always said that love is the foundation of felicity, so love always comes before felicity."

Ai's words left Ibiki pondering. _Love is the foundation of felicity, so love always comes before felicity. _ Ibiki recited those words in his mind, wondering if some day he too would find the love and felicity of his life.


	8. Of Ai's confession, of the lack of love

A/N: I'd like to thank Illegitimi and OoOlady heatherOoO for their continuing support, and the rest of you for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 8: Of Ai's confession, of the lack of love and felicity

Standing outside one of Konoha's biggest shopping malls, Ai looked at the busy shoppers half-admiring and half-nervously. She paid particular attention to the women that walked by, noticing that they all wore tasteful and expensive-looking clothing.

"Ne, Sachi-chan, don't they all look so grown up and beautiful… not like me…" She shared her insecurities with her dead sister.

Ai herself had never been into fashion. Ever since she joined ANBU, her favorite attire to don was the standard ANBU uniform of black turtleneck tank top and black slacks. The only other clothes she possessed were jeans and t-shirts. _No wonder Ibiki-san thought of her as a child,_ Ai thought to herself.

"Ai-chan!"

Ai turned her head towards the sound, and was glad to see Haruka running towards her.

"I'm so sorry Ai-chan, I got stuck at the hospital for longer than I thought." Haruka gave her a warm hug. "We haven't seen you for a while. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, o'nee-san."

Haruka took a step back to look at Ai, and was satisfied to see that the girl did indeed look a lot better than last time she saw her.

"So, what do you need help shopping for today, girl friend?" Haruka hooked her arm around Ai's as they walked into the mall.

"I want to get some new clothes, nee-san, can you help me pick out something that'd make me look more… grown-up?"

"More grown-up?" Haruka looked at Ai curiously. Suddenly it dawned on her. "Is it because of a boy?" She winked at the girl who had practically become her own little sister.

"Nee-san!" Ai bashfully turned away, choosing to avoid Haruka's question entirely, but her action told Haruka that her guess was dead on correct.

_So Izumo had finally asked her out huh… took him long enough. _Haruka immediately assumed that Izumo was Ai's boy-of-interest. She had always liked Izumo, and she thought that he and Ai would make an excellent couple.

"Alright, let's go to the store over there then. They have a lot of cute stuff. I'm sure we can find something nice for you."

Ai was completely overwhelmed once they were inside the store. There were clothes of every imaginable style, texture and color hanging from rows and rows of racks. The nicely dressed and heavily made-up salesgirls hustled and bustled about, trying to take care of every customer. Ai felt so intimidated that she opted for standing at the corner by herself instead, quietly watching Haruka pick out something for her.

Finally Haruka walked up to her with a huge mount of clothing in her arms.

"All of these clothes, nee-san?" Ai looked at Haruka in horror.

Haruka chuckled. "Don't worry, some of them are for me. Let's go and try them on."

Inside the fitting room, the two girls busily tried on one outfit after another. Suddenly Haruka exclaimed, "You look so gorgeous in this, Ai-chan." She had just helped Ai change into a satin wrap dress with simple yet sophisticated floral patterns. The deep purple color of the dress contrasted against Ai's smooth, pale skin beautifully, and the soft fabric loyally followed the feminine contour of her figure.

Ai looked at herself in the mirror curiously, she couldn't help but smile at her own reflection. She had never seen herself looking so grown up and feminine before. She imagined herself standing next to Ibiki, and she thought they didn't look half bad as a couple at all. However, she gasped when she saw the price tag of the dress – it far exceeded her budget, there was no way she could afford a dress like that.

Haruka saw her reaction, and she said to her kindly, "Ai-chan, I'll get this for you. Your birthday is coming up right? This will be my present to you."

"But nee-san…" Ai didn't want to accept such an expensive gift.

"Ai-chan, don't you worry about it. This is what nee-san do for their little sisters, right?" Haruka smiled fondly at Ai. "Trust nee-san, you will sweep any man off his feet wearing this dress."

Haruka's words made Ai blush and smile sweetly at the same time. "However," Haruka tried to be as tactful as possible, "don't you think you should get some new underwear to go with this new dress?"

Ai wasn't sure what Haruka was talking about until she looked at Haruka's black lacey underwear and compared it to her own childish pink cotton underwear. She smiled embarrassingly and said, "Can you also pick out some underwear for me then, nee-san?"

***

Ibiki sat quietly at his desk inside his office, patiently going through a big mountain of paperwork.

Occasionally he would look up from the boring documents and stared at a small frame sitting proudly on his desk. The small frame was the only decoration on the desk. In fact, it was the only personal touch in the entire office. The frame seemed to be brand new as the silver rims were still impeccably shiny. Inside the frame were two calligraphy characters that read love and felicity, though the writings appeared to be childish and scrawly, not what one would expect from a decorative calligraphy piece.

It was in fact the product of Ai's first attempt at calligraphy. Ai was disgusted by her own work and had insisted to throw it away at the end of the lesson, but Ibiki secretly took it back out from the paper bin after she left and carefully framed it instead.

He found that the writings reminded him of Ai and the time they spent together, and it never failed to bring a smile to his face and warmth to his heart, which was often much needed when he was at work at this cold and merciless department.

And this reminded him. It was his turn to cook tonight. He had promised Ai that he would make her the best steak in the world, so he needed to swing by the store to pick up some steak before going home. He'd better finish up his work quickly and leave soon.

Ibiki's subordinates had never seen him complete his paperwork with such speed and enthusiasm. In fact, by the time Ai rang his doorbell, he had already finished seasoning the steak.

Ibiki quickly wiped off his hands on his apron before answering the door. Standing outside and smiling at him was the girl who he had become very familiar with during the past few months. However, something about her seemed to be different tonight. Automatically Ibiki switched on his highly trained analytical ability and his keen shinobi eyes instantly noticed that Ai was wearing a much different attire than usual, had put her hair down, and had just a tad of make up on her face.

"Are you going somewhere after dinner tonight, Ai-chan?" It took Ai a long time to convince Ibiki to address her by the familiar form of her name as Ibiki found the word too feminine for a grown man like him to say, but eventually he gave in and now the name just rolled off his tongue naturally.

For some reason Ai seemed guilty and uncomfortable at his question. "I'm not going anywhere, Ibiki-san, my nee-san gave me this dress today so I just wanted to try it on… how's the steak coming along?" She eagerly changed the topic.

"I'm just about to put them on the grill… what do you have in your hand?" Ibiki noticed the bottle that Ai was holding.

"Oh, it's a bottle of Bordeaux, it'll go well with the steak." The wine was also a gift from Haruka. Assuming that Ai was going on a dinner date with Izumo, Haruka told Ai to bring the wine along in order to "spice things up" a bit.

Ibiki proceeded to cook the steaks while Ai set up the table and uncorked the wine. Just like Ibiki promised, the steaks were amazingly delicious. They were cooked medium rare to perfection, had just the right mix of oregano, lemon pepper, black pepper and garlic salt on them, and the side dishes of creamy mashed potato and steamed vegetables complimented the quality beef very well.

The wine was excellent too. Haruka had given Ai one of the best bottles in her collection, and Ai couldn't help but take in the heavenly nectar sip after sip throughout the meal. By the time both she and Ibiki were done with the steak, Ai was already beyond being a little tipsy.

Ibiki saw this coming a long time ago, but he didn't see any harm in it, so he simply let her be. At least this time she was drinking for fun but not binging out of sadness.  
Fortunately, Ai was a calm and quiet drunk. She just sat properly in her chair, smiling her little drunken smile, carrying on an incoherent conversation with Ibiki. Eventually Ibiki decided that she had had enough to drink, so he reached over and took the wine glass from her hand.

"Young lady, that's enough for you tonight."

Ai giddily protested. "No, Ibiki-san, I want some more!" She reached out her hand in an attempt to take the wine glass back, but Ibiki took hold of her hand instead.

"Why don't you go lie down on the couch for a bit while I clean up? I'll walk you home afterward." Ibiki tried to lead her towards the couch, but Ai was more intoxicated than he thought and she promptly collapsed onto the floor upon his slightest tug.

Ibiki shook his head and sighed cheerfully. "You really can't hold your alcohol, can you? Looks like you might be spending another night on my couch again." He effortlessly picked her up from the ground and maneuvered her onto the sofa.

He then started to clean up the table and wash the dishes leisurely, still amused by the drunken conversation Ai tried to carry on with him during dinner. _ "Ibiki-san," the drunken girl said to him, barely articulating well enough to be understood, "do you know how important chocolate-covered pretzels are? The world is a much better place BECAUSE of chocolate-covered pretzels!" She waved her arms in emphasis. _ Ibiki smiled broadly at the memory of this conversation. _So she likes chocolate-covered pretzels huh? _He had to remember that.

Ibiki realized that the night was still young after he finished with the chores. Tomorrow was his day off so he wasn't in a hurry to go to bed. Perhaps he would take the chance to practice some calligraphy by himself, seeing that his companion was already out of commission for the night.

The crisp autumn night was starting to cool off. Ibiki went into his bedroom to grab an extra blanket for Ai so that she wouldn't catch a cold. However, as he was about to put the blanket on the sleeping form of the girl, he saw something that he did not expect to see.

Ai's wrap dress had loosen just a little bit during her tossing and turning in her sleep, causing the V-shaped neckline to move down slightly and reveal a glimpse of the black, lacey fabric and the soft, feminine contour underneath. The bottom of her skirt had also ridden up just enough to show off her toned and shapely thighs that moved slowly and sensually against each other as she slept.

Suddenly, Ibiki realized that the little girl he adored so much was in fact a grown woman. A beautiful grown woman no less.

Ibiki could feel his heart racing and his breathing fastened at this unexpected revelation. Thinking back to all the time they had spent together in the past few months, fire began to burn inside him – a fire that he thought was extinguished a long time ago. He didn't usually think about women much, or rather, he gave up on thinking about women because he knew as a fact that members of the opposite sex weren't attracted to him, what with him being the monster of Konoha and all. Sure he had his physical needs as a healthy grown man, but none of that could not be resolved with a little cash, as well as knowledge of where to find the underground trade.

However, Ibiki quickly pulled his thoughts back before they drifted too far away. He hurried and put the blanket over Ai, covering up any last inch of temptation there might be. _Ibiki!_ He yelled at himself angrily inside his head. _You cannot touch this girl! Her reputation will be ruined if her name is associated with someone like you. You cannot do this to her after she has offered you the purest of friendship. _

In deep frustration with himself, Ibiki turned out the light of the living room, grabbed the remainder of the wine, and went and sat outside at the porch.

***

Ai woke up in the middle of the night, after her body finally managed to break down all the alcohol she consumed. The moon was shining with all its glory outside of the window, decorating the room with a dim glow. She recognized the place to be Ibiki's living room. She smiled softly at herself as she realized that she had once again become the overnight guest on Ibiki's sofa.

She went into the kitchen and helped herself to a big glass of water in order to get rid of the chalky feeling inside her mouth. She assumed that Ibiki was asleep already, but when she walked out of the kitchen, she found his silhouette sitting at the edge of the porch, his legs dangling over the well trimmed grass of his backyard.

She walked closer towards the open glass door leading to the porch without making any noise. She could see that Ibiki was drinking the leftover red wine directly from the bottle. His head cover was off, exposing all the scars underneath that were normally hidden away from other's view. He was massaging some of the scars with his hands as if they were painful.

The sight of Ibiki filled Ai's heart with tenderness. To many in Konoha Ibiki was a fearsome man. A man whose specialty lied in his superb abilities to hurt and torture others. However, to Ai, Ibiki had been nothing but kindness and gentleness. He listened to her sadness, he soothed her grief, he indulged her childishness, he made her happy.

Slowly, Ai walked towards Ibiki, sat down next to him and snuggled against his side like a small animal. She did it so naturally, like she had done it many times before.

Ibiki was surprised to see Ai. He looked down at her fondly while trying to get used to this novel sensation of her leaning against himself. "How come you're up?" He asked, but Ai didn't answer his question. She merely looked up, her eyes looked past his eyes and stayed on top of his head, where all his horrible deformities lied. This was her first time to see him with his head cover off.

Strangely, Ibiki did not feel self-conscious with her looking at him like that. Somehow he knew she wouldn't judge him by his appearance. He ran his hand over his scars and explained, "Sometimes the scar tissues will tighten up and get a little stiff, so I have to massage them to help them loosen up."

Ai nodded. Then she did something that neither of them expected. She got up onto her knees so that she was above Ibiki's height, and she started kissing the scars on his head gently. She tracked each scar carefully, leaving a trail of gentle butterfly kisses along every one of them. Finally she reached the scar that ran from his left temple across his lips to his chin, and let her lips stay on his.

Then she didn't know what to do anymore. She had never kissed anyone on the lips before. She wasn't sure about what should happen once you got there. Fortunately Ibiki reacted to her actions. His hands reached behind her back to press her body closer to his. His lips began to kiss hers back, at first gently, tentatively, but once their lips warmed up to each other's presence, the kiss became more passionate.

Ai never knew that a kiss could feel this great. Her face burned furiously against the chilly night breeze and her heart beat so fast that it almost hurt. Sometimes she would feel out of breath, but Ibiki would let go of her lips for just long enough to let her take in some air, before pressing his on top of hers again hungrily. Suddenly she felt Ibiki's tongue on her lips, begging for entrance to her mouth ever so gently. She complied without giving the slightest resistance.

The feeling of Ibiki's presence inside her mouth made her body feel all tingly. Her toes curled involuntarily under her feet. Her own arms wrapped tightly around Ibiki's neck, and her hands gently caressed the scars covering his head. Slowly, following Ibiki's sweet invitation, she began to explore his mouth with her tongue as well. Ibiki felt so warm and soft. She could still taste the red wine on his tongue. She wished that the kiss would never end.

While Ai was completely submerged in the joy of their first contact, suddenly Ibiki pushed her away from him forcefully, peeling her off cruelly from his warmth. He looked away from her, avoiding eye contact purposefully, while breathing heavily through his nose. "Ai-chan, why did you do that to me?" He asked angrily. There was also a hint of hurt in his coarse voice.

"I… I…" Still surprised by Ibiki's abrupt action, Ai wasn't quite sure how to answer his question. Wasn't the answer obvious to begin with?

"I… I like Ibiki-san, a lot." Finally Ai blurted out what was on her mind, loudly and clearly.

Ibiki's body visibly shook. He turned around slowly, once again looking at Ai. "Ai-chan," He forced his voice to sound cold and indifferent, "I don't know what you're talking about. I think you're being confused."

Ai's face turned bright red. "I'm not confused," she protested, "I really do like Ibiki-san…"

"That's enough." Ibiki bluntly cut her off. "Look, I'm twice your age, to me you are just a child. Your so-called feelings for me are merely your little fantasies for older men because you never grew up with a father."

Ai's body began to shake. She couldn't believe her beloved Ibiki-san was throwing such cruel words at her.

Ibiki saw the tears welling up in her eyes and he could feel his own heart break. _I'm sorry for hurting you, Ai-chan. _He said to her inside his head. _But you have to understand that I'm doing this for your sake. It's not good for you to be with someone like me. Do you know what people call me? They call me the monster of Konoha. To them I am nothing but a cruel, cold-blooded, god forsaken monster. Imagine what they will say about you if they find out that you're with me. You will be judged unfairly, you will be hurt. I don't want you to get hurt. _

"Ai-chan," his voice softened a little bit, "there are so many fine young men close to your own age in Konoha. Why don't you go and date them instead? What's that handsome boy's name? Izumo? I've always liked him. Even your Yamato Taijou is closer to your age than I am."

"But I don't like Izumo, I don't like Yamato Taijou, I don't like any other fine young men in Konoha. I only like you, Ibiki-san, because you are the one who comforted me when I was sad, you cooked for me, you taught me calligraphy, you…"

"Ai-chan," coldness had returned to Ibiki's voice, "I spent time with you because it was a convenient way for me to kill time. That was it, there was nothing more to it." Ibiki had to turn away from Ai because he couldn't tell a blatant lie while looking into her eyes.

"Then why did you kiss me like that?" Ai was almost screaming.

Ibiki forced out a cold laugh. "I can't deny the fact that you are a very attractive girl. I deserve some fun like that once in a while, don't you agree?"

Ai's mouth hung open in surprise and humiliation while hot tears finally ran freely down her cheeks.

"Now that's really enough." Ibiki stood up and grabbed Ai by her arm. He grabbed her so tightly that bruises immediately started to form underneath his fingers. He dragged her to the door. Ai tried to struggle free but she was helpless against his monstrous strength. Ibiki opened the door and pushed her forcefully out of it. "I want you to leave right now. I want you to leave my house and my life and never return. I don't ever want to see you again."

Then he closed the door behind him cruelly.

All Ai could do at the moment was collapsed onto her feet and cried her heart out.


	9. When alcohol solved the world's greatest

A/N: The usual thanks to all my readers and reviewers, especially the two wonderful ladies Illigitemi and Lady Heather. The lyrics quoted in this chapter belong to Yoko Kanno and her song "Adieu" from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. Hope you like this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 9: When alcohol solved the world's greatest problem

The document library at the Hokage Tower was a large but messy room full of files and documents dated from recent to ancient. It was not a room that got used very frequently, which might explain why the broken light bulbs in there never got replaced, leaving the room dimly lit all the time. Alone in the dark and dusty room, Izumo systematically went through rows and rows of folders, looking for the particular one that his boss the Hokage had requested. He had been in there for almost an hour now, but the folder he needed seemed to be lost in the disorganized mess. Izumo made a mental note that some day he would come and give the room a makeover, with the help of his buddy Kotetsu of course.

Another row done. Izumo moved onto the next row and discovered to his joy that the row was labeled "The Great Ninja Wars." The folder he needed could certainly fit under this category. He continued to look through the barely legible labels on each folder patiently. Finally he let out a small cheer and pulled out the precious folder that would save him from the grudge of the Hokage. However, the folder that was squeezed tight next to it also fell out in the process and spilled its contents all over the floor.

_Damn it!_ Izumo cussed under his breath. He quickly squatted down to collect everything back into the folder, making sure that nothing went amiss. Despite the messiness, all the information contained in this room was considered important and highly classified. He would get himself in big trouble if he screwed up anything in here.

As Izumo tried to gather all the loose sheets of paper on the ground, he couldn't help but notice words like "Hatake" and "Konoha White Fang" all over the documents. To his surprise, even Ai and Sachi's names appeared several times on different pages. _What information about the sisters and their family need to be tugged secretly and securely away in this room? _ He wondered. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him. He sat down on the ground and started reading the papers even though he was fully aware of the fact that he was violating the rules by doing so.

Izumo's face began to turn pale as he consumed the documents that recorded several important events happened to the Hatake family during the Great Ninja Wars. He thought back to what Ai had told him about her family – _"My mother married a civilian in the Land of Lightning during the early years of the War, where my sister and I were born. Our father passed away when we were young, so my mother reverted our names back to Hatake, thinking that one day we would all return to Konoha."_

However, if what the documents said were true, then what Ai told him could not be farther away from the truth. Did the girl lie to him about her own history intentionally, or did she not know the truth herself? Izumo instinctively thought that the latter was the case, as he didn't think Ai was that good of a liar, and it seemed completely logical that the people involved in this incident would want to protect the sisters from the horrible truth.

In fact, now that he thought about it, the Hokage herself certainly knew the story. He remembered during Sachi's ash scattering ceremony, Tsunade had told Ai that "_you are welcome to stay in Konoha for as long as you wish. After all, your mother was a rightful citizen of Konoha, even though she had experienced that unfortu…_" She caught herself in time and didn't finish the sentence, but surely what she was about to say was "that unfortunate incident". She had to stop because she realized that the incident itself was a secret even to the living members of the Hatake family, including Kakashi.

Izumo couldn't help but feel a wave of sympathy towards Ai and Sachi, especially Ai. She already had to go through her twin sister's death. She would not be able to bear the truth of who she really was. On top of that, if other people in Konoha found out about this, some villagers might look down on her simply because of her background. He couldn't let that happen to her. Therefore, the secret must remain as a secret.

Izumo quickly finished cleaning up his mess, and returned the folder back to its position on the shelf. He quietly left the room and locked the door behind him.

There was nothing to be done about the new information he learned today. All he needed to do, all he could do, was to love that poor girl even more.

***

Looking backward, Ai didn'tremember how exactly she got back to her own home that night after Ibiki rejected her. In fact, she didn't even remember much of what had happened during the month after. In order to drown her pain and sorrow, she kept herself busy with mission after mission. In addition to the team missions assigned to Yamato's team, she also volunteered for many solo missions, just to keep herself occupied, to keep herself from thinking about Ibiki too much.

She finished yet another solo mission today, and had just come back to the village. She went to the Hokage Tower to turn in her mission report, as all of ANBU reported directly to the Hokage herself.

"When should I leave for my next mission, Hokage-sama?" Ai asked the authoritative woman in front of her.

The blond woman frowned while looking between Ai and her mission reports in disbelief. "Ai, this is already your ninth solo mission this month. You have already exceeded your quota by a lot."

Ai simply looked at her superior nonchalantly.

Tsunade sighed aloud. She was starting to worry about this young woman, who she had grown to like a lot. She said sternly, "I forbid you to take up any more mission for the rest of this month. You are to take one week off, whether you like it or not." Seeing that Ai was about to say something, Tsunade quickly added, "This is a Hokage's order."

Ai closed her mouth sullenly. She quietly said, "Yes, Hokage-sama." before she bowed and left the room. She walked the rest of her way with her head down, until she heard a cheerful voice that called out to her and said, "Ai-chan!" It was Izumo, who was on his way to the Hokage's office to deliver the folder she requested.

The sight of Izumo suddenly ignited all the anger and frustration that had been accumulating in Ai. _What is so good about him?_ Ai thought bitterly. _Why does everyone want them to be together? Even Ibiki himself had said that she should date a handsome young man like Izumo. It was Izumo's fault that Ibiki rejected her. Yes, it was ALL HIS FAULT. _

Having just discovered what he saw at the document library, Izumo walked up to Ai, feeling nothing but sympathy and tenderness towards the pretty girl. However, much to his surprise, Ai simply pushed past him hastily without even stopping to make eye contact with him.

"Get out of my way." She snarled at him as they passed. Izumo was stunned by her attitude. Never once had he heard her raise her voice at anyone. She was obviously in a foul mood. Judging from the direction she came from she must have just left the Hokage's office. Did something happen between her and the Hokage? Did Tsunade say something to her? Was it about… the secret?

Izumo was about to chase after Ai out of concern. He needed to know what was bothering her. But Ai stopped walking. Without turning back and looking at Izumo, she apologized, "I'm sorry, Izumo, I didn't mean to yell at you." Her voice had resumed its normal gentleness, though her back still seemed tense and rigid.

"That's fine, Ai-chan." He said worriedly. "Is… is everything ok?"

Ai hesitated a bit, but eventually she nodded. "I just… I just haven't been in a good mood lately. Sorry, Izumo." She then left promptly without waiting for Izumo to say anything back, leaving the young man standing there alone and feeling worried, confused and a little hurt.

Ai wandered around the streets of Konoha in silent frustration. "Ne, Sachi-chan, what am I supposed to do with myself during this one week?" She asked her dead sister, but her sister chose to remain silent, so Ai just kept on walking. She walked aimlessly, senselessly, once again feeling lost and helpless. Ibiki was the one who had helped her to resurface from the bottomless pit of her sadness during the past few months. He had become an anchor for her so that she wouldn't drift away in the rapid river of life. But now her anchor was gone. Ai once again found herself falling backward into the eternity of misery.

Ai walked most of her way with her head down, without bothering to take note of where she was going. Suddenly she realized that her purposeless meandering had taken her to the Kunai Tavern again. She looked up at the familiar sign on the door, and her heart began to pump fast. She knew that Ibiki was a frequent patron of this quaint little bar. He came here at least once a week, usually on the weekend, and today happened to be a weekend. Was Ibiki in there? If she walked in now, would she see the man who she loved but who had also broken her heart?

Ai missed Ibiki terribly, even after all those cruel things he had said to her. During the past month, even though she was busy with missions, she thought about him constantly. Perhaps she'd just walked into the bar to say hi to him. Just to say hi. Just to take a look at him. Sure he would be ok with that? The heartbroken girl couldn't help herself anymore. She pushed open the door to the Kunai Tavern and promptly walked in.

She stood in the doorway and quickly scanned the entire bar with her eyes. She looked once, she looked twice, but there was no sign of Ibiki. Ai sighed in disappointment, though she was somewhat relieved at the same time. Ibiki did explicitly tell her that he wanted her completely out of his life. She wasn't sure how he would react if she suddenly appeared in front of him.

Ai looked around the small bar again. Everything looked just the same as last time she came here. The old-fashion record player was playing a mellow, jazzy tune and the sultry female voice sang:

_Been a fool, been a clown_

_Lost my way from up and down_

_And I know, yes I know_

_And I see it in your eyes_

_That you really weren't surprised at me at all_

_Not at all_

_And I know by your smile it's you._

_Don't care for me, don't cry_

_Let's say goodbye, Adieu._

It's time to say goodbye, I know that in time

_It will just fade away, it's time to say goodbye._

_Oh how I love you so, lost in those memories_

_And now you've gone_

_I feel the pain, feeling like a fool, Adieu_

Ai was stunned listening to the song. She almost felt like the lyrics were written specifically for her. She found herself walking towards the bar, and once again ordering the sweet nectar that would make her forget. It was all because of the song, she told herself, it was all because of the song.

***

Morino Ibiki was in fact at the Kunai Tavern tonight. He was in the restroom when Ai walked in, but he instantly spotted her when he came back out to the bar. It was almost like he could feel her presence in the air. He guessed he had really become used to her during their past few months of interaction.

He went back to his little corner table at the opposite end of the bar and watched her quietly. From where he sat he could only see her at an angle, but that was enough for him to tell that she had lost a lot of weight during the past month. She once again looked small and fragile, just like when he first met her at this very bar. Ibiki knew that it was all his fault. He had hurt her with his cruel words. Even though he had convinced himself that he did it all for her sake, it didn't make him feel any less guilty.

He had lied to her when he told her that he only saw her as a child, that he had no feelings for her whatsoever. He even tried to fool himself with the same lies, but he couldn't deny the fact that he had missed her during the past month. He found himself thinking about her almost constantly. He even started to see her in his dreams. Sometimes the dreams were innocent, in which they hung out, cooked, ate, chat, just like they normally did. However, in some of the dreams, Ai would appear in her true feminine form. She would seduce him and please him the way only a woman could please a man. These dreams always left Ibiki feeling guilty and confused in the morning. He had to exert great efforts to put his out-of-control emotions back in check.

Things weren't going well at work either. Perhaps because of his consistent bad mood, perhaps he had grown dependent of having Ai around to soothe his tension, now that she was not around, he found it harder and harder for him to snap out of his sadistic persona that he frequently adopted at work. He feared that this persona would eventually stay and become his dominant personality. If that happened, he would truly become the monster of Konoha that everyone already assumed he was.

It was for this reason that he visited the Kunai Tavern tonight. He thought perhaps a little bit of alcohol would help him relax. He would come and have a few glasses of gin and tonic, go home and have a restful night of sleep, and tomorrow he would wake up as a new person. His plan was going well initially. He arrived at his favorite bar, sat at his favorite table, sipped on his favorite drink while enjoying the music and people watching. It all went well until Ai showed up. The mere sight of her instantly stirred up all the repressed emotions in him. Part of him wanted to walk up to her, ask for her forgiveness and beg her to come back to him, but part of him insisted that he should not see her ever again, all for her own good.

Ibiki sat there motionlessly, feeling drowned by all the foreign emotions inside him. It wasn't like he had never fallen for a woman before. He used to have a few girlfriends before he joined ANBU, before he acquired all his deformities, but somehow things with Ai were very different. The feelings she made him feel were a lot more intense, and they reached a lot deeper inside. It was even beyond his understanding of the human psychology.

At the other end of the Kunai Tavern, Ai sat alone at the bar, drinking one cup of sake after another. She didn't keep track of how much she drank, but Ibiki did it for her. He noticed worriedly that she had already drunken more than her body's tolerance allowed, which was not much to begin with. She would not stay upright for much longer.

Just as Ibiki predicted, Ai's position slowly drifted downward as she drank. Eventually resting her head comfortably on her folded arms, she once again entered a drunken slumber at the bar. The bartender looked at her and shook his head nonchalantly. He had recognized the girl. He remembered last time it was Ibiki that took care of her when she passed out at his bar. He wondered if he could ask him for the same favor again.

However, to his surprise, Ibiki's imposing figure appeared in front of him before he even asked. The fearsome ANBU leader nodded at him simply, put down some money at the bar to pay for the girl's drinks, and he scooped her up into his arms in an unexpectedly gentle manner.

Ibiki walked out of the Kunai Tavern with Ai silently, disregarding the strange looks that the bartender and a few other patrons shot him. He could feel Ai's weight on his arms. Carrying someone bridal style was certainly not the most efficient way to transport an unconscious person over a distance. However, she would not be able to hold onto him if he put her on his back, and it would be uncomfortable for her if he threw her over his shoulder. He tried to lean her head against his shoulder so that his back muscles could share some of her weight. With her being so close to him, he could smell her scent against the crisp winter night air. It seemed to be a mixture of her shampoo, her natural scent, her sweat, and the smell of the rice wine she had just consumed. Ibiki almost felt like he could get drunk off her sweet, sweet scent. He could walk like this, with her in his arms, for eternity.

However, eternity ended after twenty minutes as they arrived at his house at the outskirt of town. With some difficulty, Ibiki managed to fish out his keys from his pocket without letting go of Ai. He first walked towards his sofa, but changed his mind half way and walked straight into his bedroom instead. He gently put her down on his large, comfortable bed, took off her shoes, and tugged her in under the blanket. He stood next to the bed and watched her sleep for a while before he went back to the living room and lied down on the couch himself.

***

Ai woke up with a headache and all the other good stuff associated with a hangover, but it seemed like she had been doing it so often lately that she no longer really minded the symptoms. The sky was still dark, but the hint of brightness told her that dawn was about to arrive. She turned her head around slowly and observed the room under the dim light. The room looked vaguely familiar. She knew she had seen it before but she had never spent a lot of time in it. She could feel the soft, silky, expensive bed sheets rubbing against her skin comfortably underneath. She turned around and breathed deeply into the pillow. She instantly recognized that the pleasant scent belonged to someone who she was very familiar with, who she yearned for dearly. It was Ibiki's bedroom. She was sleeping in Ibiki's bed.

_So Ibiki-san was at the Kunai Tavern last night after all,_ she thought to herself. Perhaps he came in after she had already fallen asleep, perhaps she just didn't see him earlier. Then she started to wonder. If she had slept on Ibiki's bed, then where did Ibiki sleep last night? Did he leave the house after taking care of her because he didn't want to see her? Was he upset at her because she had intruded upon his life again after he explicitly told her not to?

Ai slowly got up from the bed. Her body instantly began to shiver because of the cold winter air. She looked around to find something to cover herself, and she saw Ibiki's morning gown lying on the back of a chair. She hesitated for a moment, but very quickly gave in to the cold and wrapped herself around with the oversized garment. For a moment she had the illusion that she was being embraced by the man himself.

She walked out of the bedroom and immediately found Ibiki sleeping on the sofa in his living room. It was a decent sized couch, but it was still too small for Ibiki's bear-like figure, and he certainly didn't seem comfortable to be sleeping on it. Ai gently sat down on the floor next to the sofa. She felt the need to be close to him, no matter what the consequences might be. She let her body lean against the couch so that her head was merely inches away from his.

Ibiki woke up almost as soon as Ai had sat down next to him. He had the keen sixth sense of a good shinobi. His accurate instincts had saved his life many times on the battlefield.

At first he was surprised to see Ai being only inches away from him, but then his gaze softened. "It's still early, why aren't you asleep?" He asked her gently.

"I don't know. I can't." Ai was surprised by his gentleness as she still felt traumatized by how he talked to her last time.

For a moment the two of them just stared silently into each other's eyes, because neither of them knew what to say. The sky outside struggled to become brighter against the dark winter clouds, but it would take a couple hours before daylight could completely take over the darkness.

Ibiki had never liked dawn. Somehow his mind always seemed to be at its weakest during this time of the day, when night and day changed hands, when sleep and wake overlapped. He became susceptible to his own emotions. He could neither fight with or hide from his own emotions.

If he had seen Ai at any other time during the day, he would have had no problem to push her away and block her from his life, while continuing to tell himself that this was all for her own good. But right now it was dawn. His heart was weak. He was not his strong and cruel self at this time of the day.

Ibiki reached out his hand to caress Ai's delicate face. Her face felt small against his giant palm, her cheeks were sunken and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't been eating and sleeping well for a while. Ibiki knew that he didn't look any better himself. His self-righteous stupidity had made both of them suffer.

Suddenly Ibiki realized that he couldn't lie anymore. He couldn't lie to her, he couldn't lie to himself. All the walls he had so diligently built around his heart against this girl were torn down in an instant. He felt like he was sliding down an endless slippery slope, but somehow the guilty pleasure of giving in outweighed everything else at this moment. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to be happy, even for only a very short amount of time.

"Ai-chan," with his hand still cupping her face, he began to say, "I want to apologize for what I said last time. I know those words were hurtful, and I MEANT them to be hurtful in order to drive you away from me. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn't want you to get hurt by being associated with me, but I realized last night when I saw you at the bar that I ended up being the one that hurt you the most." He said slowly, making sure that she took in every single word he said.

"I don't know if this will amend what I did, but I want you to know that none of what I said last time was true. No, I don't see you as a child, I see you as a beautiful, kind, gentle woman. I didn't spend time with you because it was a convenient way to kill time. I love every single moment that we have spent together, even when you were weeping. No one else in this world trust me with their emotions like you do, and it makes me feel good about myself because if a pure-hearted girl like you is willing to trust me like that, I can't be that horrible a person myself, right?"

Ai didn't say anything, but Ibiki could see her eyes brightening up. He continued to say, "And no, I don't want you to date Izumo or Yamato. I want you to be with me. I love that one kiss that we had." Then a crestfallen look appeared on his face. "But I have screwed up everything now, haven't I? After all I have done to hurt you, do you still like me? Would you still…"

Ibiki was not able to finish his sentence, nor did he need to finish it anymore, because Ai had risen to her knees in joy and pressed her lips down heavily on his.

This time, she was no longer a rookie, she knew how to give a good kiss.


	10. The ambush

A/N: Big thanks to Illegitimi, Lady Heather and Minniemousemom for reviewing, and everyone else who read. It always makes me very happy to see the number of hits goes up.

I have officially entered the "real plot" of the story in this chapter, after setting everything up in the previous chapters. I have to dwell a little into Haruka's history in this chapter, so here's a shameless advertisement on my part: If you'd like to learn more about Haruka and the Land of Quartz, please visit my other story "The Sound of Silence"! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 10: The ambush

When Ibiki woke up this morning, the first thing he saw was Ai's serene sleeping face nestled against his chest. Both of them lied naked under the thin blanket, their bodies intertwined together in a comfortable embrace. She was pale-skinned, he had a darker complexion. Her body was lean and toned, his was muscular and sculpted. Her skin was soft and flawless, his was covered with countless battle scars. The two of them could not be more different, yet amazingly they found such great harmony within each other.

They had been together as lovers for a few months now, long enough for winter to pass and spring to arrive, but sometimes Ibiki still could not believe that all these were real. He remembered the night when Ai shyly presented herself to him as a gift on his birthday not too long ago. The memory of unwrapping her clothes like one would unwrap a present and seeing her perfect body for the first time still sent shivers down his spine.

Ibiki bent down and kissed Ai lightly on top of her head, at the same time taking in the pleasant scent of her hair. He noticed her long, lush eyelashes fluttering on her face, indicating that she was already awake, even though her eyes were still closed. He grinned mischievously and began to rub his stubbles against her smooth skin. Finally Ai giggled out loud and opened her eyes.

"Good morning, gorgeous." Ibiki propped himself up on his elbow so that he could take a better look at her.

"Good morning." Ai had once again nuzzled herself into his chest, her voice muffled by his thick chest muscles, causing Ibiki to laugh endearingly and said, "You're such a kitty cat." He reached out his hand with the intention to give her bottom a playful pat, but instead he slapped air. In the blink of an eye, without any hand seals, without a poof of smoke, Ai had henge transformed herself into a beautiful short hair black cat and proudly trotted onto Ibiki's chest to meow at him cheerfully.

Ibiki had seen Ai performed her henge jutsu many times, but he never ceased to be amazed by how exceptional her technique was. Even though henge itself was an entry level jutsu that all shinobi learned in their early days at the academy, it was a technique that was extremely difficult to perfect, much like how most people could draw but only a selected few could draw well.

The concept of henge was relatively simple. According to the physics law of conservation, mass could not be created or destroyed in an isolated system, meaning that the number of cells and molecules that constituted a person must remain the same under all circumstances. However, with the help of chakra, a shinobi could rearrange the order and alignment of the molecules in the body, thus changing his or her appearance within seconds.

It didn't take a lot of skills or chakra control to be able to shove the molecules inside the body around. However, being able to align the molecules in a formation that closely resembled the object of imitation was truly an art form. Additionally, being able to act like the object of imitation after transformation was also critical to a successful henge jutsu. One of the contributing factors to Ai's exceptional henge jutsu was her keen observational skill. Quiet people like Ai often tended to be very observant, for instead of talking they used their time to observe and take notes of their surroundings.

Another quality of Ai's henge that separated her from the rest was how small she could become. Most shinobi could use their chakra to pull the molecules inside their body closer together, allowing them to transform into something slightly smaller than their actual size. However, this method was very chakra-consuming. Depending on the person's chakra reserve, there was a limit on how small they could become and how long they could hold onto that form for. In Ai's case, she could transform into something as small as an insect for an extended period of time. It took Ibiki a lot of thinking and a few experiments to figure out, but eventually he concluded that Ai's phenomenal henge technique stemmed from her ability to manipulate magnetism. Instead of regular chakra, she used magnetic force to bundle her cells tightly together via the trace amount of metal ions found in every single cell in the body, thus allowing her to transform into something of extremely small size.

Ibiki's thoughts were pulled back to the present when Ai the short hair black cat nibbled on his nose affectionately. Ai had always loved taking the form of her childhood pet, not only to commemorate it, but also because she was very familiar with its movements and mannerisms as she had spent years observing the animal. Ibiki reached under the cat's chin and gently scratched her, making Ai the cat close her eyes and purr lovingly. Ibiki smiled and challenged her, "Now try a dove." This was one of their favorite lazy morning games to play.

Ibiki made a point to not blink his eyes so that he could see the black cat dissolved into the form of a small, white dove within fractions of a second. The dove cooed and paced back and forth on his chest, occasionally giving him a playful peck or two. "Ow, ow, that beak actually hurts." Ibiki laughed and complained. "How about a platypus next?"

Ai the dove tilted her head and tried to picture a platypus in her mind. Eventually she made her first attempt. Ibiki scrutinized her for a while and said, "Baby, I think a platypus has more toes than that. Try five, with claws too."

Ai the platypus frowned a very human frown and changed the appearance of her toes. Ibiki corrected a few other mistakes before he chuckled and said, "Ok, that's enough, you have a solo mission today so let's save your chakra." Ai obediently transformed back to herself on top of Ibiki's chest and smiled at him sweetly.

Ibiki let his hand run up and down freely on Ai's backside. The combination of feeling her silky smooth skin on his finger tips and the sight of her naked bosoms pressed tightly against his chest almost made him want to turn around and press her under himself to repeat what they did last night, but Ibiki quickly put his lust in check. He didn't want her to get tired before she left for her mission.

"What time are you leaving?" He kissed her fondly on her forehead.

"Around late morning will be fine."

"Are you done packing?"

"Hmm…" Ai pondered for a moment, "I still have to sharpen my swords, but other than that I'm all set."

Ibiki nodded. "Why don't I go make us a nice breakfast while you sharpen your swords, and I'll see you off after we eat?"

Ibiki went into the kitchen to check his food supply, and was glad to find a fully stocked pantry that would allow him to make a rich, scrumptious meal for Ai before she took off. He loved taking care of his girl, and he loved the fact that lately she had been spending most of her free time at his house. With her around, his own dull and routine life suddenly became a lot more interesting. Ibiki didn't remember ever feeling so alive before, and he certainly had never felt so intensely about anyone. There was only one way to describe how he felt about Ai right now – he was madly, madly in love with her.

It didn't take Ibiki long to cook up a table full of Ai's favorite breakfast food. After he finished setting up the table, he went out to the porch, where a distinctive metal scraping sound could be heard. Under the warm morning sun, Ai hunched over her sharpening stone that seemed to reside permanently on Ibiki's porch these days, and diligently sharpened her precious twin swords.

Ibiki quietly watched her for a while, admiring her lean but muscular arms hard at work. "Are you expecting to fight during this mission?" He asked.

"Not really." Ai answered without lifting her head. "I'm going on a C-rank mission, which is going to be more laborious and tedious than dangerous." Then she added, "I just like to keep my swords in good shape, you know, they are the only things my mother left me."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow in surprise, "They send ANBU on C-rank missions these days?"

Ai smiled good-naturedly, "None of the genin teams are available right now, and the village can really use some extra cash to build up our defense against Akatsuki, plus not much is going on at the action squad lately, so why not?" She lifted up her swords and inspected the blades against the sun, then she smiled brightly at Ibiki and said, "Ok, I'm done. Can we eat now? I'm starving!"

Breakfast went by too quickly in Ibiki's opinion. He knew that after Ai left today, he wouldn't see her for at least another week. He wished that he could see her off at the gate instead, but he still wasn't brave enough to bring their relationship out in the open, for fear that Ai would get hurt by being associated with him. They spent most of their time together inside his house, with the exception of a few occasional dinners at the rural part of town, inhabited by mostly civilians. Ibiki knew that they could not go on like this forever, even though Ai didn't seem to mind the slightest, but some day he would figure out what to do. Some day.

Ibiki held Ai tightly in his arms and gave her a long, passionate kiss, which she responded just as passionately. "Bye baby, be careful on the road ok?" Ibiki leaned his forehead lightly against hers.

"I will, snuggly bear." She called him by her nickname for him, which often left him feeling both embarrassed and loved at the same time.

Ibiki fished out a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels from his pocket and put it in Ai's hands. "Here, some snacks for you on the road."

Ai let out a small cheer and put the candy in her backpack, taking care to make sure that it wouldn't be crushed by other items in her sack.

"Ok, off you go, I will see you in a week." Ibiki finally sent her out of the door and waved at her until her slender figure disappeared at the other end of the road.

As soon as she left the Konoha gate, Ai picked up her speed but still kept it at a comfortable pace. At this rate, she would reach the Land of Quartz by tomorrow afternoon. The Land of Quartz was a small mining country just north of the Konoha forest. Her mission would be to go deep down into a newly discovered quartz mine and help the miners set up their facility. Descending into a new mine was naturally dangerous for civilians, but for shinobi who could walk on a vertical slope with the help of chakra, the task would simply be tedious but not dangerous at all. In fact, Ai almost felt like she was going on a vacation.

Ai had been to the Land of Quartz several times. She adored the small but peaceful country, especially because her Haruka nee-san was officially the country's princess. Haruka's family had been the royal family of the Quartz Country for generations, and her brother was crowned the feudal lord of the country only a few years ago.

_When Haruka nee-san marries Kakashi nii-san, does it mean that both her and Sachi-chan will become a hime of sort by relation? _Ai pondered amusingly. She absolutely loved her nii-san and nee-san, and she just couldn't believe how lucky she was to have them as family. Also, now that she had Ibiki to love her and take care of her, life simply could not be any better, even though her twin sister was no longer here with her.

Looking backward, Ai sometimes wondered how she and Sachi got through all the hardships in their life. Their father, a civilian from the Lightning Country, passed away before the sisters could even remember his face. Their mother rarely talked about their father when they grew up, so the twins only had a very vague idea of what kind of man their father once was. Money was always tight at their house. The sisters started to help out at local farms and factories at a very young age in order to help with the family's finances.

In Ai's memory, their mother was a kind, beautiful and gentle woman, but she always seemed to be surrounded by an air of sadness. Ai often assumed that their mother's impenetrable sadness was somehow related to her sudden, mysterious death when the sisters turned fourteen. She remembered one day their mother left town for some business, and next day her corpse was carried back by other villagers to their house. No one knew exactly what happened. The sisters were left alone with the unchangeable fact that their mother was dead.

Very soon after their mother passed away, Sachi developed her illness. Seeing that no doctor in their village could help her, Ai promptly gathered however little money their mother had left them and set out on a journey to seek cure for her sister. In order to pay for their traveling and medic fees, Ai would pick up odd jobs here and there in exchange for food or a little cash. Some people took pity on their situation and offered them help, but more people tried to take advantage of the two poor orphan girls whose existence would not be missed by anyone if they were to forever perish from the world. During her years of traveling, Ai had seen more darkness of human nature than she cared for, but also thank to those experiences, she had become the worldly wise shinobi that she was today, with a tremendous amount of strength hidden under her soft and gentle exterior.

Ai shook her head heavily to stop herself from dwelling more into her sad memories. _The past doesn't matter anymore. _She told herself. _The past is what got her here to Konoha today, where she is loved by her family and her snuggly bear._ The thought of Ibiki brought a warm smile onto her face. She thought of the chocolate-covered pretzels he gave her this morning. Perhaps she could take a break soon to snack on her favorite candy.

However, Ai came to a sudden screeching halt amidst her rapid running. Something was not right about the road ahead of her. She couldn't see any immediate danger, but something just wasn't quite right. It was too quiet. Neither the birds nor the bugs could be heard, and they were usually at their loudest at this time of the day in the forest. It could only mean that danger lied ahead of her.

Just before Ai managed to hop up and hide herself in the branches above her, four enemy nins rose from the shadows and surrounded her. They all wore generic black shinobi wear with a head mask that revealed nothing but their eyes. None of them bore a hitai-ate, not even a scratched one that would indicate their betrayal to their hidden village, but there was no question that they were all ninja – strong, high-caliber ninja as indicated by their overpowering chakra signature.

Ai immediately drew both of her swords into her hands. "Who are you, and what do you want?" Her voice sounded more tense than she expected.

"Not much, just your little pathetic life." One of the masked nins replied arrogantly. For a fleeting moment Ai thought that the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn't have time to dwell into that because her opponents had already started their attacks.

At the beginning, the enemy nins used only basic ninja weaponry against her – kunai, shuriken, ninja knife, hand claws, nunchuk, chain whip, but strangely none of the signature weapon and jutsu that a shinobi of their caliber most certainly had at their disposal. Weapons flied around, clashing against each other and sending sparks off into the sky, but Ai managed to dodge most of their attacks even though there were four of them and they all intended to kill. Her own mother was once recognized as the best sword user in the Fire Country, and Ai had definitely inherited most if not all of her mother's skills.

As her opponents slowly realized that weaponry alone wasn't going to grant them her life, they switched towards the use of ninjutsu. Suddenly, fireballs were roaring across the sky, the earth underneath shattered and crumbled into traps, Ai quickly activated her chakra and sent it to her swords, causing the twin blades to hiss and spark with the signature appearance of lightning-based chakra. She managed to severed an arm from one of the enemies, but that only served to anger the rest of them even more and caused them to intensify their attacks.

Ai could feel her chakra reserve rapidly declined as soon as she began to use the ninjutsu-based techniques. She knew there was no way she could defeat the four of them together. Her only way out alive was to escape. The young ANBU quickly assessed her situation. It was no good. She was completely surrounded, and she now sustained several deep cuts on her body. Even though none of the cuts had hit a vital organ, she was bleeding heavily, and she could feel her strength leaving her by the moment. Suddenly, she felt a great pain all over her backside. It was as if a thousand needles had punctured her deeply through her skin and flesh at the same time. She started coughing up blood, which told her that one or more of her internal organs was now severely injured. She didn't have time to think anymore. She needed to escape. It was either now or never.

She quickly looked around and threw herself towards the direction guarded by the enemy nin with the severed arm. She managed to catch him by surprise and successfully broke free from their circle, but earning herself another deep gash on the shoulder in the process. She ran as fast as her body would allow her to. She could hear the sound of water ahead of her. Ai remembered crossing a narrow stream earlier in her travel. Perhaps she would have a chance once she reached the river.

The river was in sight sooner than she expected. She took a quick glance behind her, and was glad to see that somehow she had managed to gain a bit of distance between them. This extra distance would most definitely help her in her next maneuver. Without further consideration, Ai promptly leaped up from the river bank, and while in mid-air over the water, threw the shorter of her twin swords across the river into the shrubs, creating movements in the vegetation and hence the illusion that she had escaped through the bushes. In reality, she henge transformed herself into a tilapia fish, one of the most commonly found fish in the rivers of Fire Country, and sunk into the river within fractions of a second.

As good luck would have it, Ai found herself falling into the middle of a school of tilapia that just happened to swim by. Feeling safely camouflaged by her temporary companions, she quickly swam forward in the water while holding her breath as the transformation did not actually grant her the biochemistry to breathe under water. The swimming action caused her to bleed even more heavily, but the flowing water made sure that she did not leave a blood trail for her enemies to follow her. She didn't hear footsteps along the river so she assumed that she had successfully fooled them with her trick, but it wouldn't be safe to leave the water until she was farther away from them.

Fortunately, the river was flowing towards the Konoha village. Ai the tilapia fish kept swimming and swimming, rising occasionally to the surface for air, until she was absolutely sure that she had successfully lost her enemies. She henge transformed back to herself in the water and climbed up onto the river bank with some difficulty. She looked around to identify the direction of the village, and immediately began to run towards it as fast as she possibly could. She started to see black patches in front of her eyes. She knew it was a sign that she had lost a dangerous amount of blood, but she had to keep running, for the closer she was to the village, the more likely she was to be saved, so Ai kept running, she kept running…

***

Morino Ibiki sat inside the office of Ishiguro Haruka at the Konoha Hospital, patiently listening to the experienced medic explain to him where the pressure points on a human body located. He recently learned that one of Haruka's battle tricks was to insert needles into her opponent's joints and pressure points, stunning them by inflicting a lot of pain but without causing actual damage to the body. He liked the idea of causing pain without actually harming people, so he thought perhaps he could adapt this method into his torture routine.

During his frequent visits of late, Ibiki had developed a lot of respect for the patient and knowledgeable medic. Haruka shared the same teacher as Tsunade herself, and rumor said that her medical ability had already exceeded that of Tsunade by the time she was a teenager. Ibiki also appreciated Haruka for being kind to Ai, but he couldn't state his thanks to her as she didn't know about their relationship yet.

"There is a pressure point at the Golgi tendon at the back of the elbow. If you insert a needle at an angle like this, it will cause a tremendous amount of pain and make your opponent's arm useless, but the effect is immediately reversed when you pull out the needle." Haruka explained to Ibiki.

Ibiki was about to ask her a question when the door to Haruka's office was rudely pushed open by a nurse. "Haruka-sensei, we have a patient in critical condition that needs your immediate attention. I think it's someone you know… isn't Hatake Ai a relative of Kakashi-san?" The nurse tried to catch her breath in between words as she had run all the way from the emergency room to Haruka's office.

Both Haruka and Ibiki stood up so fast that they knocked over their chairs and startled the nurse who was still panting by the door. Haruka turned to Ibiki, threw him a quick "excuse me" and ran out of her office. She didn't notice that Ibiki was following closely after her.

Haruka reached the emergency room in the shortest amount of time possible. The sight in there horrified her. She saw her little sister lying unconsciously on the bed like a broken doll, her body was stained blood red but her face was ghostly white. Several gashes on her body went so deep that she could see the bones underneath. The emergency room staff had already hooked her up to different machines to monitor her vita signs, and Haruka could see that Ai was only inches away from being dead.

"You, massage her heart with type three chakra, and you, use type five chakra to stimulate the pressure points in her scalp." Haruka immediately began to shout out commands to her subordinates in an attempt to bring Ai back to life. She needed to perform surgery on the poor girl in order to save her, but she couldn't start the surgery when all her vital signs were significantly below sub-optimum values.

Suddenly, a big figure pushed past Haruka and squatted down next to Ai. It was Ibiki. Haruka had no idea that he had followed her into the emergency room, and she didn't know why he would do something as inappropriate. She frowned and was about to ask him to leave, but to her surprise she saw Ibiki picked up Ai's hand gently and spoke into her ear, "Ai-chan, it's Ibiki, can you hear me? Ai-chan, wake up!"

_Ai was walking in a dark, dark tunnel. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that her twin sister Sachi was waiting for her at the end of the tunnel. She could already hear her voice. "Ai-chan, come here and play with me. I miss you." Her sister said. She had missed her too, so she hurried up and walked faster towards her sister. She could begin to see her face. Oh Sachi-chan looked so beautiful. She had resumed her looks from before she came down with the illness. Ai couldn't wait to hold her sister in her arms. She had missed her so much. _

_"Ai-chan! Ai-chan!" Ai noticed another voice calling her from behind, from the other end of the tunnel. It sounded so warm and familiar. Who could it be? "Ai-chan, come back, it's Ibiki, come back to me." _

_Oh, Ibiki, her snuggly bear. Ai smiled fondly at the thought of Ibiki. She had missed him too. She missed his touch, his kisses, the way he laughed, the way he'd secretly sneak chocolate-covered pretzels into her pockets… suddenly Ai realized that if she continued to go toward her sister, she would never see Ibiki again because they would be separated by the tunnel. She hesitated. Should she keep walking or should she turn around? Would Sachi-chan think that she had betrayed her if she turned back?_

_From the other end of the tunnel, Ibiki continued to call out to her. "Baby, come back, I love you so much, don't leave me here." He sounded so urgent, so desperate. Ai could feel his love for her in his voice. Finally Ai made up her mind. She shouted to her sister, "Sorry, Sachi-chan, not now, not this time, please wait for me for a little longer, I will be there with you eventually, but not now." She promptly turned around and went back to where she came from._

The other emergency room staff tried to pull Ibiki away from the patient, but Haruka gestured them not to. She could see that Ai was responding to Ibiki's words. Her vital signs were slowly picking back up. Her heart was once again pumping at a reasonable pace. Still weak, but good enough for a surgery now. Then, as if there were magic, Ai opened her eyes. "Ai-chan! Baby!" Ibiki leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead with joy.

Ai smiled weakly at him and said, "Snuggly bear…"

Haruka took the opportunity and walked up to Ai. She bent down so that her face was only inches away from hers and said, loudly and clearly, "Ai-chan, this is Haruka nee-san, you are doing great, we're going to start your surgery now, you have to keep fighting, for yourself and for Ibiki-san, did you hear me? You have to keep fighting for Ibiki-san." She was satisfied to see Ai give her a clear nod before she closed her eyes again. Haruka knew that she had already won half the battle when the patient had a strong will to survive herself. She gathered all the tools she would need and promptly commenced the surgery.

Ibiki left the emergency room co-operatively when the surgery began. He was worried about Ai, but he had faith in Haruka when he saw the confidence in her eyes. He would just patiently wait for them in the waiting area, waiting for the good news.

There were three genins besides him sitting in the waiting area. Ibiki recognized one of them as the late Sandaime's grandson Sarutobi Konohamaru. Suddenly it dawned on him. He bent down and addressed the children kindly, "Are you the genin team that found Ai in the forest and took her here?" He had heard about this from the nurse earlier. The genins were intimidated by his size and his reputation, but Konohamaru, the bravest of the three, replied to his inquiry politely and said, "Yes, Ibiki-san, we were on our way back from a mission and we found the nee-san fainted just a little bit north to the gate, so we immediately carried her to the emergency room… how is nee-san doing?"

"She is in the middle of a surgery and she is trying her very best. It will take a while before they finish. Why don't you kids go home first? I will send a message to your sensei as soon as I find out how the surgery goes. Your sensei is Ebisu right?" Ibiki patted each of the genin appreciatively on their shoulder before they left.

He was now the only person left in the waiting room. He could see the red "surgery in progress" light blinking above the tightly closed door, and his heart couldn't help but beat worriedly in sync with it.


	11. The hospital room drama

A/N: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. Work has been crazy for the past 3 weeks but finally it has calmed down enough for me to finish the chapter. As usual I'd like to thank Illegitimi and Minniemousemom for reviewing, and Garrakills for adding my story to your alerts. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 11: The hospital room drama

Hours had passed since the emergency room door closed. The red "surgery in progress" light above the door blinked so rapidly that it almost made Ibiki ill to his stomach, but he dared not take his eyes off the light. Doctors and patients hustled and bustled by continuously, but all Ibiki heard was his own nervous heartbeat. He would never forget the sight of Ai lying unconscious on a hospital bed, covered in blood and fatal wounds. He thought for sure he was going to lose her, until the moment she magically opened her eyes and called him "snuggly bear". Ibiki swore he would never complain about her calling him by that nickname ever again.

Having stared at it for too long, Ibiki actually failed to register when the red light finally stopped blinking. He had to rub his eyes a few times to make sure that it wasn't his imagination playing tricks on him. The door to the emergency room slowly opened and out walked Haruka. She seemed pale from exhaustion, but in a good mood nonetheless.

"The surgery is a complete success." She smiled at Ibiki and said. "We still have to keep a close watch on her for the next few days, but we definitely got her back. She's asleep right now, but you can go in and take a quick look at her before the nurses take her to the ICU."

Ibiki hurried into the emergency room. There Ai was, looking so small and helpless on the hospital bed, her eyes tightly shut but her mouth hanged open slightly. The blood on her body had been cleaned off and her wounds were neatly bandaged. Ibiki wanted to hold her in his arms, to feel her presence, but of course he knew better. Instead he kissed her lightly on her forehead and whispered in her ear, "Sleep well and get better baby, I will come visit you everyday and you know I will be thinking of you." Then he turned around and left the emergency room, ignoring the skeptical looks from the nurses and other medics.

He found Haruka sitting tiredly on the bench in the waiting area. He walked in front of her and bowed deeply. "Thank you for saving her." He said. His words were simple yet they carried all his gratitude for the medic.

"Oh, Ibiki-san…" Haruka was surprised by his action. She gave him a friendly pat on his hand and gestured him to sit down next to her.

Ibiki leaned back into his folded arms behind his head and stared into space. Even though Haruka hadn't asked him about anything, he felt like he owed her an explanation.

"Ai and I are in love with each other." He said suddenly, after a period of silence.

"I can tell." A knowing smile crept onto Haruka's face. "And I'm truly happy for the two of you."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow in disbelief. This wasn't the answer he had braced himself for. He tilted his head slightly to survey the medic next to him out of the corner of his eyes. Her smile seemed to be genuine, and there wasn't the slightest bit of surprise or disgust on her face.

Haruka was a smart woman. She knew why Ibiki was giving her the questioning look, and she wasn't going to pretend that she didn't know what was on his mind. She decided to be honest with him. That was the only way to be with the head of the ANBU torture and interrogation squad anyway. "I was of course surprised to see you in the emergency room. Even though Ai-chan hasn't said anything to me, I can tell that she's been seeing someone just from the way she walks on cloud lately." Haruka chuckled.

Ibiki couldn't help but smile fondly. "Yes, she does have a tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve."

"Both Kakashi and I had our guesses on who the lucky man would be, but we never once thought of you as a possibility because we didn't even realize you and Ai knew each other." Then she turned towards Ibiki so that she could look him in the eyes. "But you know what? However it happened, whatever the story was, perhaps you will tell me one day, perhaps you won't, I'm grateful that it happened, because back in the emergency room, you saved her just as much as I saved her. You gave her a reason to live, a will to survive. Without that, even my own sensei wouldn't be able to bring her back to life."

_So that was how he gained her acceptance so quickly, _Ibiki thought to himself, _other than the fact that she was a kind, understanding and nonjudgmental person. _ He had prematurely revealed his relationship with Ai to the world, and he was beginning to dread the consequences. He didn't expect everyone to accept them right away like Haruka did, but at least this was a good start.

He once again said to the medic, "Thank you, Haruka-san, thank you, really."

Haruka smiled understandingly. "Alright, Ibiki-san, I need to go get some rest myself, I will send a note to you via ANBU if anything happens to Ai, ok?"

***

Ai was in a restful coma for three days, but when she finally came to, she felt a lot better than she expected. Sure she was in a lot of pain, but at least she was alive and breathing. To her delight, Ibiki was by her side when she woke up. She later heard from the nurses that Ibiki had been staying at the hospital with her as much as they would allow him to during the time when she was unconscious. He would sit next to her bed, hold her hand and whisper loving words into her ears. His devoted love for her soon won him a steady fan base among the medical staff. Some of the nurses began to worship him as a romance hero, but others considered their relationship unconventional, shocking, abnormal, or even doomed. Nonetheless, regardless of what their opinion was, to Ibiki's relief no one had dare to say anything to him yet. Ibiki had underestimated how much he was feared in Konoha.

Inside the plain hospital room, Ai half-sat, half-lay on the bed, casually flipping through a few culinary magazines that Ibiki brought her earlier. Ibiki had left a few hours ago to attend an important meeting at ANBU. Ai couldn't wait for him to come back, not only because she missed him, but also because he promised to bring her dinner. She had been put on a fluid diet for the past few days as Haruka didn't trust her injured abdomen to handle solid food yet, but she finally got the permission to eat normal food today so Ibiki had volunteered to cook her something delicious.

Footsteps sounded as the door swung open. She looked expectantly at the door, but it was only Haruka. Ai greeted the medic with a bright smile nonetheless. "Nee-san!"

"Hey girl friend, how are you doing today?" Haruka ruffled Ai's hair endearingly before she proceeded to check her pulse, her pupils, her temperature and her blood pressure. She then opened up some of the bandages to inspect her wounds. "They are healing very nicely, much faster than I expect!" Haruka exclaimed. Ai explained to her that she had been applying magnetic forces across the wounds to help bind the torn tissues together, this way she would minimize scar formation as well. "Not that there's anything wrong with scars." She added quickly in subconscious defense of her lover.

Haruka caught that, she was about to tease her little sister when the door pushed open again and in came Ibiki. He acknowledged both women by nodding at them, Ai saw the large bento boxes in his hand and said excitedly, "What did you bring me?"

Ibiki shook his head and teased her, "Sometimes I wonder if you only date me for the food." Nonetheless, he put down the bento boxes on Ai's bedside table and lifted up the covers in front of them.

Inside the beautiful black lacquer boxes were golden fried pork cutlet laying on a sea of rice and topped with steamed eggs and vegetables with sprinkled furikake seasoning. Ai cheered happily, "It's katsudon!" Her favorite comfort food, especially when it was made by Ibiki.

"Did Ibiki-san make that?" Haruka stared at the professionally made home cooking in disbelief.

"Yes, katsudon is nutritious and easy to digest, so I thought it will make an appropriate dinner for Ai on her first day back to solid food." Ibiki laid out three bento boxes on the table. "Haruka-san, I made some for you too if you care to join us for dinner."

If Haruka hadn't become a fan of Ibiki yet, she certainly was one now. She gladly accepted the invitation and immediately dug into her share of the delicious food. Being a medic was a tiring job and she could certainly use some nutritious and easy to digest food herself. During dinner, she listened with a smile to Ibiki and Ai exchange technical culinary terms and other small chit-chats, and she found herself beginning to understand how their relationship worked.

Everyone finished their dinner completely, not a single grain of rice was left in those bento boxes. When all three of them were sipping on their hot roasted green tea satisfactorily, Haruka thought it would be appropriate to bring up the topic.

"Ai-chan," she tried to make herself sound as casual as possible, "Tsunade asked me to file a report on the details of your ambush." She knew it was often difficult for patients to talk about their traumatic experiences, especially while they were still recovering from the physical injuries, but this information might be important for the village and she understood the Hokage's urgency in obtaining it.

Ai nodded bravely and began to recount the ambush in details. When she described how the enemy nins assaulted her with their deadly attacks, Ibiki, who was sitting at the side of her bed next to her, couldn't help but put his arm around her shoulder protectively while clenching his other hand into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"I was lucky that I managed to fool them with my henge, but I lost my shoto in the process." Ai lamented the loss of the shorter member of her precious twin blades, the only memento her mother left her.

"Don't worry baby, I'll go there and find it tomorrow. It's probably still lying somewhere in the bushes." Ibiki promised her.

"It certainly sounds like the enemies are trying to hide their real identities." Haruka said thoughtfully. "No hitai-ate, no insignia of any sort, no signature weapon or jutsu. Well, except for the last one, when they had become desperate." She took out a small glass bottle from her pocket. "What you thought were needles puncturing your back were these instead. You probably lost most of them when you transformed into a fish, but a few grains got stuck to your internal organs. I found them when I operated on you." She shook the bottle against the light so that they could see the little black grains inside.

"Sand?" Ibiki frowned. "The only sand user I know is Gaara, but he uses his sands to crush and engulf, not to puncture."

"Plus Suna is our ally now. There's no reason for Gaara to go after Ai-chan." Haruka frowned in frustration as well.

"Another curious thing is, the enemies seemed to know exactly when and where to wait for Ai-chan. The mission was only given to her the day before she left by the Hokage herself. How did the information leak out? I think it's highly likely that the people who ordered the mission were the enemies themselves." Ibiki hypothesized.

"But the person who requested the mission was nee-san's brother, the feudal lord of the Quartz Country." Ai's information quickly invalidated Ibiki's theory.

"Ai-chan, can you think of anyone who may hold a grudge against you? Perhaps someone who you've gone against in previous missions?" Haruka asked.

Ai thought for a moment, but eventually she just shook her head. "I always keep my mask on during ANBU missions. My identity should be a secret."

"It's possible that the enemies were not after you per se, they might simply hold a grudge against ANBU or Konoha and wanted to kill someone as a warning – you just got unlucky." Ibiki suggested.

"It's possible," Ai agreed, "but I do remember thinking that one of the enemy nins' voice sounded familiar. I just can't recall where I heard it before."

"This may explain their need to be completely masked – there's someone Ai knows among them." Haruka said.

Ai forced out a pale smile. "It doesn't feel good does it, knowing that someone out there is after you and you don't even know who or why."

Ibiki instinctively tightened his arm around Ai. He kissed her on the temple and whispered next to her ear, "Don't be scared, precious one, I promise I will do everything I can to protect you, even if it costs me my life."

Ai smiled and snuggled closer to him.

Haruka collected her notes and said, "Well, I think that's all the information we have for now. I will write up a report and give it to Tsunade-sama first thing tomorrow morning. Ai-chan, don't worry about anything for now, you'll be safe in the village, just focus on resting and recovering ok?" She gave her little sister an affectionate kiss on her cheek before she went back to her office next door. However, just as she sat down at her desk and laid out her stationery to write the report, Kakashi stormed into her room like a hurricane.

"I heard Ai-chan got ambushed. What exactly happened? How is she doing now?" The copy nin asked urgently. He had just returned to the village from a mission and heard about the bad news.

"She was pretty scratched up before, but we fixed her and she's ok now. She's still in pain, still needs bed rest for another week or two, and definitely no battle for at least a month, but she will be fine." Haruka said in a soothing voice.

Kakashi visibly relieved. He smiled at his fiancée, his sole visible eye crinkled into one thin line, "Thank you for taking care of her, Haruka."

Haruka smiled back at him. "She's my little sister too."

"Alright," Kakashi turned around as he spoke. "I'll go take a look at her. Are you ready to go home after this?"

"Kakashi!" Haruka rose from her chair, almost frantically, as she suddenly remembered that Ibiki was still in the room with Ai, and Kakashi didn't know about their relationship yet. "Ai's… boyfriend… is in the room with her."

"Boyfriend?" Kakashi broke into a wide grin under his mask. "That Izumo, he finally confessed huh? Took him long enough. Well I'll say hi to him too." He left the room before Haruka had a chance to say anything else. She was about to chase after him, but a nurse came in with an emergency case and strong-armed her away. She could only hope that Kakashi could handle the surprise calmly.

Kakashi recklessly pushed open the door to Ai's room, but the first person he saw was Morino Ibiki. _What the heck was the head of Torture and Interrogation doing here? Did Tsunade send him to gather some information from Ai? _ However, no matter how Kakashi looked at it, Ibiki didn't seem to be in the middle of an interrogation. The supposedly fearsome man was sitting at the edge of Ai's bed, wearing a gentle expression on his face, one of his arms draped across Ai's shoulder so that she could comfortably lean against his body, and the two of them seemed to be reading some magazine together just before Kakashi barged in.

Suddenly it dawned on Kakashi. Ibiki was Ai's boyfriend. His little girl was dating Ibiki, the monster of Konoha.

For a moment the copy nin stood silently at the doorway, his eyes switched back and forth darkly between Ai and Ibiki, unsure of how or what he should think.

Ibiki was the first among the three of them to react. He let go of Ai, stood up from her bed, nodded to acknowledge Kakashi and said, "Kakashi-san." His tone was neutral but Ai could see that his back muscles had tensed up like a beast ready to hunt.

Kakashi nodded back at Ibiki, it was hard to judge his expression under the mask. He said to him, "Ibiki-san, would you mind sparing me and my little sister a few minutes of privacy?" His words were polite but his tone was cold as ice.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed dangerously for a few seconds before he left the room. He closed the door behind him but he made sure to stay near it, for he knew that the walls at the hospital were thin as paper.

Inside the room, Kakashi walked towards Ai's bed and said, "Ai-chan, what's this supposed to mean?"

Ai turned her gaze away from Kakashi, "What's what supposed to mean?"

"You and Ibiki." Kakashi said impatiently. "What's going on between the two of you?"

"It's just as you see." Ai replied defensively. "We're in love with each other."

"You're in love with each other?" Kakashi roared at her. "Do you know who this man is? He's the head of Torture and Interrogations. He freaking tortures people for a living. He's not a normal man, he's a sadistic monster!"

"Ibiki is not a monster!" Ai yelled back at her nii-san. "He is one of the most caring and kind person I know!"

"Do you know what you are talking about, young lady? I don't know how he tricks you into thinking that he's a nice person, but you have to look beneath the underneath and see who he really is. Even the toughest criminal crumbles at the sight of him. How can you possibly claim to be in love with a man like that? Not to mention he's almost twice your age."

"YOU are the one that needs to look beneath the underneath! Ibiki is not what his reputation claims. Do you not understand? He sacrificed his own reputation in order to do his job properly, all for the sake of the village. Are you willing to do that, nii-san?" Ai defended her lover protectively.

Kakashi was breathing heavily with anger. He rarely lost his temper like this, but Ai was the only relative he had left and he needed to protect her from the sadistic beast of Konoha. Suddenly it occurred to him, "Ai-chan," he softened his voice, "did Ibiki manipulate you into this? Did he use any torture on you to make you comply?"

Ai began to shake with anger. How could Kakashi say something like that? She could feel moisture collecting in her eyes, but she wouldn't let the tears fall because that would appear to Kakashi that she was admitting to his ridiculous accusations. She was at a loss for words, so she just kept silence and let her body language showed her emotions.

Outside of the room, Ibiki heard every single word the two cousins exchanged. Finally he felt like he couldn't keep his silence anymore, so he promptly walked in, sat down next to Ai and collected her protectively into his arms. He regarded Kakashi in a calm, controlled manner, "Kakashi-san, even if you don't trust me and my reputation, you should trust Ai's judgment. She is no longer the child you looked after years ago. She has grown up into a fine woman who is intelligent and strong, otherwise she wouldn't be offered a position in ANBU. She is fully capable of making choices for herself."

Just as Kakashi was about to say something in return, the door opened and in came a fuming Haruka. She could hear Kakashi and Ai's yelling from down the hall. "Kakashi," she pulled her fiancé backward and said sternly. "Ai is still injured and she needs her rest. You're disturbing my patient, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Go wait for me in my office."

Ibiki was surprised by how compliant Kakashi was at Haruka's words. Without a single word of protest, the jounin simply turned around and left the room.

Haruka sighed heavily. She gave Ai a hug and wiped off the tears that had finally slide down her face. "It's ok, Ai-chan, your nii-san is just being a protective and jealous big brother. He's not used to the idea that his little girl has grown up. I'll talk to him tonight and it'll all be sorted out, ok?"

Ai nodded and waved her nee-san goodbye, feeling very thankful for having such a patient and understanding future sister-in-law.

Ibiki helped Ai to lie down. He carefully tugged her in and said, "You must be exhausted now. Go to sleep, I'll stay here until you fall asleep."

Ai smiled sweetly at Ibiki and said in her most soft and gentle voice, which Ibiki had always found irresistibly seductive, "Kiss me, snuggly bear."

Ibiki was more than happy to oblige. Without breaking eye contact with her, he leaned down and placed his lips lightly on top of hers. He started out slow and mellow, for fear that he might hurt her if he went too rough, but Ai quickly let him know that she wanted more than that. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly to press his head further down towards her, her lips eagerly opened against his. Upon such sweet invitation, Ibiki couldn't hold back anymore. He began to make love to her mouth with his tongue. Her mouth felt so wonderfully warm and delicious. Very soon Ibiki felt like his pants were getting too tight…

For the third time this evening, the door to Ai's room was recklessly pushed open by someone without a knock, startling the two lovers and forcing them to break apart. Standing at the entrance was an obviously drunken Izumo. He stared at Ibiki and Ai stupidly while muttering to himself, "It's true, what they said is true."

Ai had never seen Izumo like this before. She could smell the alcohol on him from her bed, and she knew that he was in this state all because of her.

"Ai-chan…" Izumo moved towards Ai unsteadily, and he successfully tripped over himself along the way. Luckily, Ibiki managed to catch him before he fell on his face and broke his nose. The torture specialist then settled the gatekeeper into a chair next to the bed not too gently.

"Thank you… thank you… Ibiki-san…" Izumo said barely intelligibly. "Ibiki-san… I don't know you very well… but I know that you must be a great person… because Ai-chan chose you and not me… you must be a great person…" Then he buried his face into his hands and sobbed loudly. "Oh Ai-chan… I love you so much… I really do… but I'm really happy for you and Ibiki-san… _hic_… really happy for you… _hic_… " He began to hiccup uncontrollably.

Ai and Ibiki exchanged a glance with each other. The usually handsome young man looked so comically pathetic right now. Ai slide herself closer to the edge of the bed so that she could pat Izumo on his back and said, "I'm sorry, Izumo." She truly felt guilty for not being able to reciprocate his love.

"Don't… _hic_… don't apologize… Ai-chan… can we still be friends?... _hic_… Can I still take you out to dinners… without being tortured by Ibiki-san afterward…_hic_…"

Ai threw Ibiki an apologetic look, who simply shook his head and turned away so that he didn't have to watch this anymore.

Ai smiled gently at Izumo, "Of course we are still friends, and yes, please still take me out to dinners. Don't worry about Ibiki, he's a very nice guy once you get to know him."

"Really?" Izumo's face brightened up. "Thank you… Ai-chan…" He stared at her face like he had just met her for the first time today. "Ai-chan… you're so beautiful…" He leaned in closer to her as if he wanted to kiss her. Ai let out a nervous giggle and quickly retreated backward.

Ibiki, who was now watching the two out of the corner of his eye, cleared his throat loudly and dangerously. Izumo paused and seemed to sober up a little. He laid back into his chair and rubbed his face tiredly. "Man… everyone is in love these days… you're dating Ibiki-san, and Kotetsu just proposed to his girlfriend now fiancée, only I'm left alone…" He whined.

"Kotetsu's engaged?" Ai was excited about the news of her other good friend.

"Yeah… he just proposed yesterday… a gigantic rock too… dunno where he got all that money…" Izumo yawned and closed his eyes, looking like he was about to fall asleep.

Ibiki quickly went up to him and pat him on the shoulder. "Hey buddy, you look tired, I think it's time for you to go home now." Even though he rather liked this young man, he didn't trust him to sleep in the same room as Ai. He ushered him out of the door. "Can you find your way home? Do I need to send someone to go with you?"

Izumo, now a lot more sober than when he first walked in, shook his head and said, "I'm fine now, Ibiki-san, please take good care of Ai-chan, I'll see you later."

Ibiki promptly closed the door behind Izumo. He once again sat down next to Ai and tugged the exhausted girl in. "How many more jealous men of yours do I have to deal with tonight?"

Ai made a pouty face towards his comment, so he laughed and said, "I'm just teasing you baby. You know I'll do anything for you. Now go to sleep. You're tired." He kissed her on the forehead and turned off the light of the room.


End file.
